


The Great Divide Chapter 15 - Skin -

by Antigravity_Carnivore



Series: The Great Divide [15]
Category: Breaking Benjamin (Band), STARSET (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dark, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Blood and Violence, Cannibalism, Computers, Emotional Manipulation, F.E.C., Fluff and Angst, Gay, Gay Male Character, Gay Sex, Homosexuality, M/M, Male Homosexuality, Psychological Torture, Rape, Rebellion, Science Fiction, Torture, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-04
Updated: 2017-10-04
Packaged: 2019-01-09 01:32:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 38,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12266202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Antigravity_Carnivore/pseuds/Antigravity_Carnivore
Summary: The Aftermath of what happened between the cruel Burnley and Dustin Bates is finally revealed, at the worst possible moment, as the F.E.C base is locked down, leaving them all trapped inside with no way out.





	The Great Divide Chapter 15 - Skin -

The Great Divide – Chapter 15 – “Skin”  
I was staring into the eyes of death. Those cold, and yet somehow mesmerizing beautiful gray green irises, flecked with shards of the most intense amber color were locked on me, staring at me like a predator glaring down at its prey, and I was defenseless against them. My arms and legs were numb and unresponsive, feeling like nothing more than dead weight hanging from my body. The chemical concoction that he had pumped into my body earlier was wearing off, but still wreaking havoc on my central nervous system, making me disorientated and confused, even keeping my eyes open felt like a monumental task.

Forced into a sitting position on the metal gurney, my head wobbly and balloon like; I struggled to steady myself as best as I could, but both of my arms were painful and throbbing with the intravenous lines connected to both of them, continuing to pump some sedative into my system. Burnley had released me from the leather straps holding me down, but I was still very much his unwilling prisoner. He stood directly in front of me and ran his fingers down the side of my jawline, letting his nails graze slightly against the stubble on my face, making me cringe. I tried to lean back, pull away from him, but the motion only made my head spin and a wave of dizziness wash over me. “What do you want from me Burnley? If you want me dead, then do it. Torturing me like this won’t solve anything.”

“Torture? Is that what you think this is?” He asked, as he tilted his head curiously to the side, and pulled the silver crash cart over to him. Laying on top of it there was a small white towel, discreetly concealing several odd shaped medical instruments underneath. My heart began to race as he spoke. “Torture is the action or practice of inflicting severe pain on someone as a punishment or to force them to do or say something, or for the pleasure of the person inflicting the pain.” His fingers grasped hold of the edge of the towel and slowly pulled it back revealing a set of surgeon’s scalpels, forceps, bone saws, a rib spreader and the syringe I had seen earlier, filled to the maximum with the amber liquid. I involuntarily shuddered and seeing my reaction, an alligator smile crept across his lips. “I don’t want anything from you, Bates. You are insignificant and worthless to me.”

I felt like I was sinking underwater, slipping away from everything, and fought to try and concentrate on his words. “Then let me go. The F.E.C. can do whatever they want with the Eden project, I don’t care about any of that. Do the right thing and release me and the others. Please Burnley.”

He leaned his head back and laughed. It was an eerie, hollow laughter that echoed off the walls and filled the room with its ominous sound. “The RIGHT thing? You should be the one to talk, Bates. It was by your hand that I was brought here. YOU were the one that wrote the Prox Transmission book, which led to the discovery of the ability to travel beyond worlds and dimensions, allowing the F.E.C. to come and take me as a child.” Sneering at me, he turned his attention away from the crash cart and jammed a finger harshly into my chest. “Have you ever wondered where those ideas came from? Hmm? Think about it, you were nobody, nothing. Merely a college dropout with a useless unfinished piece of paper stating your worth. You failed at your schooling, you failed at your band, nothing was going right for you, until one day the idea of the F.E.C. and Prox popped into your head. All of a sudden it was right there, playing out like some sort of graphic novel, in full color. All you had to do was sit down and write the words. You were warned not to publish that damn book, several times, and yet you went ahead and did it.” Burnley hesitated, the expression on his face softening up and becoming a bit more gentle. The tone in his voice would go from serious to condescending, and then downright terrifying in a matter of moments. It frightened me. Stretching his hand out, he placed his other fingers upon my chest and with a very light, almost sensuous touch started to caress my skin. He stepped forward, moving his body so that his torso was positioned between my legs as I sat on top of the stretcher. I was now very aware of the thin sheet of material that now separated my naked flesh from his tight leather trousers. I could feel the harsh, cold decorative silver buckles brush up against in inside of my thigh as he leaned forward and brought his lips to the side of my neck, letting them lightly brush against me as he spoke. “In a way, everyone here are all your children, we are the products of your imagination, you brought us to life.” He flattened his hand down now out over one of my nipples, and then arched his fingers; much like the Carnivores did to torture their victims; digging their hearts out of their chests while they were still beating. A wave of nausea washed over me, I didn’t know if it was from the closeness of his body, or the drugs, but I had to fight to keep the bile down that was rapidly rising in my throat. I could feel his warm breath on my skin. It disgusted me, this was Benjamin’s son. This was his child. “You made me what I am, so together we will suffer slowly.”

Willing my arms to move, I sluggishly lifted them up, ignoring the dense weight that was pressing against me and pushed forward against his chest in a futile effort to get him away from me. “Get away Burnley. You’re sick!” I watched as my ineffective defensive attempt delighted him, and brought an amused look to his eyes. “It was a book, that’s it. None of this is my doing! There are people out there on Prox, REAL people that you are killing day after day; it isn’t some made up story from my imagination. I’ve seen the desolation that the F.E.C. has caused, the atrocities that it has committed all in the name of science, and I am one hundred percent certain that I would have never written something as horrific as that. You are a lunatic if you believe otherwise.” I waited for a moment, trying to catch my breath, and then realized that my outburst and increased heart rate was working against the sedative in the intravenous line. I was starting to get feeling back in my legs. This was the strength that I needed to escape; but needed was a little more time for it to work. I had to keep him talking. Lowering my voice, I looked him straight in the eyes. “Your father would have never wanted you to be like this. If he would see you now, he’d be ashamed of you.” 

Immediately after I said the words to him, I regretted it. The semi-amused look on his face completely dropped, replaced by one of utter disgust and repulsion. I had hit a nerve. He came to stand in front of me again, but this time I knew that there would be no escape. Grabbing one of my wrists in his hand, he clutched it tightly, his nails digging fiercely into my skin. “SHAME? Let me tell you a little bit about shame, Bates.” Burnley took hold of the plastic tubing that was attached to the needle which was driven deeply in my arm and wrapped it around his hand. I watched helplessly as he looped it over and over, the plastic becoming more tight and the needled starting to tug at my skin. “Shame is being tossed into a dark room after a long day of ‘programming’ where your muscles start to seize up, your body shut down, and all you can do is lay there and cry, sobbing onto the cold concrete floor because they won’t give you a bed to sleep on. All you can do is pray that they won’t hear your whimpers or see your tears on their digital monitors high overhead, recording everything all the time. At night, when you are brave enough to shut your eyes; your sleep gets interrupted as they storm into your tiny room, their long black robes flowing around their twisted, disheveled bodies as they grab you and throw you up against the wall. Try not to think about it as they rip your meager clothes off your body and force themselves deep into you. Bite your tongue, hold back the tears, pretend it doesn’t hurt or else they go deeper, ripping you open more. The wounds get ripped open over and over, every night. It never stops. You can pray that it will be all over soon, but no one gives a fuck, no one is listening except for those soulless eyes on the monitors overhead. Take it all in, let the monsters consume you. Fighting is useless, it only makes them hurt you worse, lie down and take it like a man. Stop being a baby. Grow to love it. Do you know what it’s like to grow up facing this sort of torment almost every night since infancy?”

I took a breath and looked away from him for a moment, his savage story breaking my heart. I could still see shreds of that innocent little boy in him, and thinking of the atrocities that he had to endure at the hands of the F.E.C. made me feel sick. I could recall the look in his eyes that day on the steps of the church, a split second before the masked rider on the motorcycle grabbed him and took him away. Only being three years old at the time, I could hear it in his cries as they sped off down the block; he knew that his life was going to be changed from that moment on. Somehow, I was very aware that the moment he was on the back of that bike, little Ben was gone, replaced by Burnley. My inattention to him was suddenly noticed when the sound of his soothing, but yet harsh voice snapped me back into reality.

“Oh yes, that’s right Bates, you know all about my suffering and pain because you’re the one who created it, didn’t you? You set those beasts upon me, wrenching me away from my family and causing me to be violated in every way possible, every single night of my life!” Without warning, Burnley suddenly pulled at the intravenous line attached to my left arm, ripping it out in a spray of blood that dotted the white sheet around me. I screamed as the needle forced its way back through my skin and was left dangling from the end of the tubing that he was holding in his hand, swaying back and forth in a macabre manner. “I SAW you there. You were the one that told me to come to you. I could have stayed with Adam, Ron; they could have protected me, but NO!! You had to lure me out of the sanctity of the church.” I clutched at the wound he had just created deep in my skin, grabbing it with my right hand, but Burnley was quicker than I, and pulled my arm away, grasping hold of the other side of the tubing and forcibly yanking it out as well. As the needle slipped out, gouging its way through the skin, it felt like someone was shoving a white hot poker through my arms, sending a wave of pain cascading down each, making my fingers curl and tense up in extreme agony.

Burnley pushed me back down onto the gurney, with such force that my back rattled against the metal and knocked the breath out of me momentarily. Moving around swiftly to the foot of the bed, he slid his fingers along the intravenous lines that had been put into my ankles as well, and sneered at me. “Let me tell you something a little about pain, Bates. There comes a time when you experience so much in your life, so much pain, so much agony that you start to expect it, want it, welcome it. It is at these moments in time where you can truly see the person you are deep down inside, whether or not you have the strength to let the pain shape you, make you who you are truly meant to be, or succumb and just lay down and die.” The corner of Burnley’s mouth upturned into a twisted smile. “I let them come to me. I let those bastards break my body time and time again, and each time I’d find a way through the pain to become stronger, better. After a while, I wanted it, I desired it, I lusted after their punishments, and I know what you’re thinking… it’s a sick sexual thing… but it’s not. Every single time that they came in there after me, the doctors, the scientists, the researchers, and yes even the fucking Carnivores, I used that pain to make me whole. Then one day, years later, I gave all that pain back to them. No longer was I their prisoner and captive, being groomed as they saw fit, but the harbinger of their own destruction. I took it all from them, systematically hunting down every single F.E.C. operative that had a hand in my abduction and relocation to Prox as well as every sick son of a bitch who ever laid a hand on me.” Burnley leaned in a bit closer and I propped myself up onto my elbows, feeling the warm sticky blood trickle down my arms. “You know what else I found out, Bates? I discovered the name of the person who ordered me to be taken.” He narrowed his eyes at me and I shook uncontrollably, there was just something about the air around him that exuded viciousness. “Should I tell you who it was? Hmm? It’s quite shocking.” As he spoke, he brought his hand down to the inside of my calf; his fingertips were like fire on my bare skin as he started to shift them up, over my knee and to the front of my thigh. 

Without the sedative being pumped through my veins, and the time that had passed, I could now feel the strength returning to my legs. “Stop it Burnley!” I shouted. Grabbing hold of the rails on the side of the bed for support, I kicked out with my legs, aiming a well-placed blow to his mid-section that send him momentarily reeling backwards, knocking some equipment over which crashed to the floor with a loud thud. While he was dazed, I tried to swing my legs around to the side of the bed, so I could slip off it and get away, but the intravenous lines still were connected to the ankles, holding me in place. Pausing for a moment, I bent down to slip the needles out, and in that split second, Burnley jumped forward with a fierce velocity, lunging at me with great force and connecting with my chest sending me back onto the gurney, and then proceeded to climb on top of me. I was utterly terrified.

“Is this what you are trying to remove?” Burnley asked, and swung his arm down to grab hold of the last two intravenous lines which I was struggling to dislodge with minimal harm, and that was my crucial mistake. “How foolish of me to let you suffer like that, here let me help you with them.” Taking hold of the tubing, he gave it a quick tug, in the opposite direction that the lines had been inserted, causing both needles at my ankles to rip right the through the flesh. I let out a loud cry as he held the tubes up, letting the needles drip the blood away. “It hurts going in, hurts even more going out, doesn’t it, Space boy?” I sat up, taking a swing at him with my closed fist but he was too fast, and I caught nothing but air instead. “That’s right..” he said, moving quickly and spreading his legs to straddle me. “Keep fighting against me, fight for your very life, I can taste your fear and its exquisite.” Balling up the tubing in his hand, he threw it out of the way and off to the side of the bed, where it joined the first. With his weight pressing down forcefully on me, I knew that I had to do everything that I could to escape him. He was a young man, but exceptionally well built and solid as stone. When I looked at him, I couldn't help but to see so much of Benjamin there in him as well, and I had to keep reassuring myself that this was not Benjamin, but his cold hearted, ruthless son, who was quite capable of achieving the most disturbing, sadistic crimes. Even still, it was hard thing to look in his face and see the psychopathic lunatic, instead of the sweet little 3 year child that I remembered.

“What do you hope to achieve by doing this Burnley?” I asked, as my eyes frantically darted around the room, desperately searching for something to use against him, if I could get free. “If it's revenge on me for writing the book, then take it and be done with it. I am sick of your cat and mouse games.”

Bringing his hands up to the collar of his shirt, he began to unbutton it, slowly, one button at a time, all the while keeping those gray-green eyes fixed right on me. He knew I was looking for a way out. “It's not revenge, Bates. I am above such petty emotions.” He finished unbuttoning his black shirt and leisurely slipped one arm out, and then the other, exposing his muscular chest. I couldn't help but to gaze upon his body, at the impressive chiseled features of his torso. His skin was ashen white and almost perfect, with the exception of some very light scars running up and down his arms. As my eyes fell over them, he suddenly leaned down, taking hold of my wrists and pinning me down to the gurney, and snickered at me. “Yes, those wounds are self-inflicted. You see, because I have been trained in the instruments of war, so blood became my poetry, my melody. When its flowing then I can hear the symphony, feel the emotions and let everything wash over me in a sea of crimson.” He arched his back and looked down at me, and never in my entire life had I felt so completely overwhelmed by another person, not even Benjamin himself. “Do I frighten you, Bates? Well let me step back and explain this to you, what I am going to do to you is simple. I am going to return you to my father.”

My eyes widened. This had to be a joke. “You are?”

Lowering his head to mine, he gazed down upon me and we were face to face. I couldn't help but to think that I was staring at Death himself. A shiver ran down upon my spine. “Oh yes, Bates. I will graciously return you to Benjamin, only after I've broken you.”

Before I could say another word, his lips were on mine, kissing me roughly and deeply, drawing the breath right out of my lungs and taking it into his own. I tried to lift my arms of the bed, to fight him off, but he held me down so firmly that I thought for sure he was going to push me right off the gurney. His breath was hot and humid on my face and his lips tasted of earth. Every inch of me was repulsed and mortified; I refused to let this happen. As he continued to devour me with those ravenous lips, I winced and whimpered at each slight movement, and tried to turn my head away. Fighting him wasn’t going to work, I had to think of something else. Stopping for a moment to force my head back, the hesitation was all I needed to make a crucial decision. I parted my lips and drew his into mine. At first he seemed shocked and a little surprised, thinking I was finally giving in to him and admitting defeat, but then seizing the opportunity, I caught his bottom lip between my teeth and bit down as hard as I could, until I felt a satisfying pop of skin breaking and the familiar taste of copper in my mouth. “FUCK!” he shouted and pulled back, releasing the hold he had on me. I reached out with desperate hands and grabbed hold of the first thing that I could find on the crash cart that was near the bed. Much to my surprise, I found myself gripping a shining scalpel. Our eyes both focused on it at the same time and as he lunged forward to grab it, I managed to avoid his grasp and plunge it right into his side, just above his hip bone. The moment that I felt it sink into the skin, my hand was washed in a stream of blood and instead of pulling it away, I met his gaze full on, staring into those gray green eyes and twisted the handle, pushing it in further and further. I could feel muscle and sinew inside of his body tear and rip apart under the blade as I continued to push it in deeper, wanting to do as much damage as I could to this sadistic bastard. Letting out a loud cry, Burnley pulled himself off of me and toppled onto the floor, taking the crash cart down with him.

I let out a sigh of relief and ran my hands over my face. Burnley's blood smeared across my cheeks, but I didn't care. An eerie silence descended over the room, and I realized that I was free from him. I won. My mind instantly went into action, thinking of a plan to locate the others; I had to find Brock, Benjamin and Thomas as quickly as possible. I knew that they were in trouble and I had to act fast, but my body was still recovering from the first dose of the drug that he had injected me with and moving was going to take a bit of work.

Slowly, I managed to pull myself back up to a sitting position and pulled the sheet around my waist, glancing down to the floor, I could see Burnley’s body stretched out just below me, his wound oozing blood that was rapidly pooling up underneath him. I didn’t know exactly how much damage I had done to him, but I knew that it was enough to bring him to a halt. When I found Benjamin, I would be faced with trying to explain what I had done; how I had fatally stabbed his son and I knew that it wasn’t going to be an easy thing to do. A wave of guilt washed over me as I looked down at Burnley again. This didn’t feel right, I couldn’t leave him lying there, bleeding to death on the cold, hard lab floor alone. No one deserved a death like that. He was obviously psychotic, severely disturbed and morally questionable, but he was Benjamin’s son, after all. This was the little boy that called me Uncle Dustin and never had a chance at having a real life. Someone had to take a chance on him.

Dropping my legs off the side of the gurney, I stopped for a moment, waiting for the dizziness to pass. The wounds in my arms and legs were throbbing painfully and still slightly bleeding, nothing that I couldn’t handle. I glanced around the room, searching for some bit of clothing when I felt his fingers curl around my ankles from below. I didn’t have time to react before he reached out and tried to pull me down to the floor. Panic set in and I managed to turn around and grab the metal railing on the opposite site of the gurney, clutching on to it for dear life, but he was too strong and had better leverage than I. I let out a cry as I was dragged down to the floor, the stretcher I was still holding onto falling, crashing around me; I had to twist at the last moment to avoid having the thing fall on top of me. The next thing I knew, I was on my back, lying on the floor, looking up at the ceiling and Burnley was standing over me, smiling viciously. Holding the scalpel that I had stabbed him with in his bloodstained hand, he didn’t seem to be bothered by the wound on his side, even though it was torn open and bleeding profusely. Looking into those iridescent eyes, I knew that the pain I inflicted on him only made him more maniacal, more psychopathic. It was fueling his rage and hate. I had a very bad mistake.

Putting one laced up boot on one side of my body and the other on the opposite side; he squatted down on top of me, and gave me a look which assured me that my fate was already decided. Keeping his voice low; just above a whisper, he spoke to me in a tone that chilled me to the bone. “So you DO like inflicting pain on others! What a discovery this is. You see, growing up as a member of the F.E.C. I never had anyone to play with, not like I wanted to.” He held up the scalpel and let the light dance over it. “First it was animals, small fuzzy creatures with their tiny paws and long tails, but such small bodies don’t contain very much blood, and would quickly expire. I grew tired of picking fur out from underneath my fingernails and my teeth. To be honest, the screams of an animal aren’t nearly as satisfying as one would think. But then one day someone brilliant thought that my lack of compassion and cruelty was because I needed to have some socialization time with other children. What a ridiculous idea! The only thing that it taught me was that I could control the noises that they made by cutting into different parts of the bodies, at all different angles, and that young flesh is much more succulent than older flesh.” Listening to Burnley terrified me, and I started to shake and tremble underneath him. If he was this sadistic to animals and children, what could he possibly do to me? “So now you are here with me, bringing your little toys with you. What a delight! I am going to show you how to properly use this, silly boy.” 

I started to say something but before I could get the words out, Burnley had hold of my neck and was lifting me to my feet. I could feel the sheet drop down off my body and fall down to the floor, fully exposing my naked body as he forced me into a standing position. I brought my hands up to his fingers that were curled around my neck gasping for air and tried to pry them off of me, but it was no use. He was stronger than I and my efforts only seemed to make him squeeze tighter. I was now face to face with him again and was looking directly in his eyes as I felt the first sting of the scalpel in his hand as he sliced the flesh of my chest with it. I let out a muffled cry as he pulled his arm back and sliced at me again, this time on my thigh, and then again on an arm, and on my hip. These were not delicate, intricate slices but instead random slashes, the handiwork of a mad man. With each new wound that he opened up, there was a intense blinding pain as the blade bit deeply into flesh, and then the rush of blood as it started to pour out from the muscle that he had just ripped open. Over and over again, he kept repeating the process, slicing into the front of my body in various locations, each cut going deeper and deeper into the flesh as he held me up by one hand like I was nothing more than a doll. I closed my eyes to avoid looking at him; I couldn’t take the look in those eyes anymore staring at me.

I was waiting for the final cut, the one that would slice into an artery that would be the end of it. He said that this wasn’t torture and he was right, this was worse. As he sliced into my skin repeatedly I thought about my friends, and how that I had let them down. I had overreacted to Thomas; he had every right to feel possessive towards Benjamin. I didn’t realize how much he really loved him; how devoted he was to the man who basically changed his entire life. Thomas reached out to me that day back in the Shallow Bay, asking for verification for his feelings and I threw it all back in his face. I would never have the chance now to tell him that more than anything, I understood. Then I briefly thought about Brock, the charming man whose only fault was falling in love with me and keeping it silent for so long. I knew that he hated it here on Prox and wanted to go home, and I desperately wanted to take him there, but it was impossible now. How could I ever apologize to him for letting things get so complicated? Lastly, I thought of Benjamin. Keeping my eyes closed, all I could recall was that one beautiful night under the projected stars with the music playing. If I was going to die, this was the memory that I wanted to be left with.

Burnley’s voice brought me out of my reverie. “Exactly what are you smiling about Bates? Have you finally found the place on the other side pain where the pleasure is? Doesn’t it feel wonderful letting the blood wash away all the cares in the world? Is this why the smile creeps across your pale lips?” He stopped slicing into my flesh and brought his bloody hand up to my cheek. I could see the slight metal glint of the scalpel just on the edge of my vision. “Share your thoughts with me; tell me what you are thinking of.”

Fighting through the haze of pain and blood loss. I brought my eyes back to his and with a confident tone, answered. “Benjamin.”

I felt the motion and the impact before my mind could process what was going on. Burnley tightened his grip on my throat, I thought for sure he was going to choke me to death with those incredibly cold fingers, but then he pulled his arm back that was holding me and threw me against the panel of computer monitors. My spine hit them all at once, sending them toppling over and crashing down to the floor as a spider web of pain started to spread through my back. The sound of shattering glass all around me was almost deafening. I fell down to the floor, and he was at my side in an instant, picking me up once again and throwing me across the room into the opposite direction, into the far wall where I collided with the cabinet full of drugs. One of the doors popped open and several bottles fell out and crashed onto the floor, spilling their contents. Gasping for breath, I tried to keep myself upright but the pain was too much and I started to slink down the metal cabinet to the floor. Burnley was right there, picking me up again and pinning me against it. I brought my hands up to his chest, trying to push him away, but it was no use. “I think that is quite enough from you Bates. It is time to fulfill your duty and submit to me, let me break you for once and all and then send your broken body back to that of your lover, my father so that he sees exactly how it feels to have your entire world shatter and come crashing down around you.”

“I won’t let you ever do that, Burnley. Ben is stronger than you think. If you do this, he will come after you and rip you apart. It doesn’t have to be this way, you are his son, and are capable of the same kind of love and devotion that he has, don’t force his hand in this matter, just go to him, tell him who you are! He’s wanted to have his son in his arms again for so long.” I pleaded with him. Even standing there naked and exposed in front of him, I was certain that there had to be good somewhere inside, it was just a matter of finding it.

Slamming my back against the metal door once again, Burnley screamed at me. “HE FUCKING ABANDONED ME! I can’t forgive him for doing that, so I am going to destroy everything that he loves, starting with you, then your friends, and finally finishing off with Prox.” My eyes widened, I couldn’t believe what he was saying. Burnley had the capabilities of killing humans, yes… but an entire planet? I couldn’t wrap my head around it. Seeing my confusion he chuckled and grinned at me. “Uh huh, now you get it. The Eden project will destroy the planet, eliminating all life outside without mercy. The F.E.C. isn’t using me, I am using THEM! My entire time here, all I could think about is my father.. And how he turned his back on me, and then how I could use my power here to make him pay. I don’t care about losing anything; I have no ties here. I just want to see him suffer, and you are going to be the start of that.”

“Ben never abandoned you! Whatever they told you was a lie. Ben… he died on earth. He was sick for a very long time, but never told anyone about it. We didn’t know how bad it was until the day when it happened, it was so sudden and quick, none of us even saw it coming. He fought so hard to stay with you, Burnley. He really did. Before you were born, he was a different person, falling apart and suffering with depression, but after you came along, all that changed, he tried so hard to make things right, to make himself better.” Hearing my own words brought tears to my eyes and I had to fight to keep them at bay. I wouldn’t let Burnley see me shed a single tear. “His body, it was beyond repair… you were the light in his life that kept him going as long as he could, but in the end, his own body betrayed him and he lost that fight. So don’t you say that he abandoned you, because we both know that’s a goddamn lie. I’ve never seen anyone in my entire life fight for something as hard as he was fighting for you!”

“Do you know how long I’ve been here, Bates?” Burnley asked, casually running his fingertips down over my chest, smearing the warm blood across it. “Twenty years. Twenty fucking years! This place is all I have ever known. I don’t remember anything about Earth, it doesn’t exist to me. I didn’t grow up running around on the waterfront, with the ocean waves crashing around me, but the in the four cold walls of different F.E.C facilities, being moved from place to place like I was some sort of prized pony. My windows didn’t open to a bright and sunny playground full of chirping birds and fluffy squirrels, but rocks, desert, and desolation. Don’t tell me stories about a life that I’ve never had, save those breaths, because you will need them for screaming.” Reaching behind my head, Burnley picked something out of the cabinet and pulled it out, doing his best to keep whatever it was out of the range of my vision. “And you want to know the best part, Bates? That little hacker you have in your group, Brock… he discovered that I was here. He KNEW who I was and why I was being kept here. Every detail was there for him to feast his eyes on. He slipped into our databases when he was trying to recover information about your whereabouts, and found out about my existence as well, but yet when he went to report to dear old dad… all he told him was about YOU. Why do you think that is hmmm?”

My jaw dropped open. I remained silent. It felt like he had physically punched me in the face. I couldn’t think of an explanation for Burnley. Brock had been sitting on this information the entire time we were on Prox, but never said anything. What could his motive for this be? I had known this man for most of my life, he was always so open and honest and now in our time here, he was changing and becoming a person that I no longer knew. How could he be so cold hearted as to let Ben’s son suffer in the claws of the F.E.C.? Would things be different if Ben knew, would he have went after Burnley instead of me? Was Benjamin even possible of making that decision?

“Now you’re figuring it all out, aren’t you Bates? You are finally understanding exactly what your ‘friends’ are fully capable of. Brock didn’t tell Benjamin because he wanted YOU back. Fuck anyone or anything else. Love is such a useless emotion. Look what it does to people. It turns friends into enemies, lovers into Monsters.” Burnley leaned forward and kissed my cheek, it was a cold, heartless kiss that somehow reminded me of Judas kissing Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. His words were like the salt of lust on my skin. “It’s alright Bates. I am going to do you a favor and take it all away from you. You won’t feel a thing, just like I promised before. All you have to do is close your eyes and let it take you down.”

I looked at him questioningly and then saw him move his arm, revealing the syringe filled with amber liquid in it that he had taken out of the cabinet. Instantly knowing what his intention was, I struggled against him, but the amount of blood loss that I had endured had severely weakened me and I was helpless to stop him as he brought the needle down to the side of my neck and slammed it into my skin. A wave of searing hot chemicals burned beneath my flesh and into my bloodstream instantly, causing my knees to weaken and my body become limp. Burnley slipped the needle slowly out of my neck and tossed it aside. I dully watched it as it rolled underneath the toppled over gurney and out of sight. I started to collapse, but he caught me in his arms and held tightly with every bit of his strength, even though the wound on his side was still bleeding, his grip was strong and sure, almost protective. There was a strange earthly scent to his skin that reminded me of the Prox desert which invaded my nostrils as he clutched onto me tightly, each touch whispering secrets of the pain to come. His body was strong and warm as his arms encircled me, and for a moment I could almost mistake him for his father again. Pushing the thought out of my head I knew that I had to do what I could to stay conscious. The last dose of the drug he had given me sent me far away, to a place that I had absolutely no desire to return to, I wouldn’t let it drag me down to witness events I could not change, I didn’t want to go through that again. Now I was going to fight with all I had to remain here. I refused to let him take my life away from me. All I had to do was stay awake.

Helpless and afraid, Burnley brought me over to the remaining set of monitors that were sitting on a small desk which were not toppled over and propped my body up against the back of a chair. He came to stand next to me, leaning against the desk and crossing his arms in front of his chest for a moment. “It’s a pity that you are going to remain conscious through this next part, Bates. It is really in your best interest to just slip down into a coma for a little while. That’s one of the interesting things about this drug, the more you fight it, the more damage it does to your body. The dose I’ve given you won’t kill you, not outright. As I told you I am going to return you to Benjamin and you need to be alive for that part, but if you don’t let the drug do its job and drag you away for a bit, it will eat away at you from the insides out, burning and searing your internal organs. Believe me when I tell you this because I know exactly how it works, I’ve had this shit pumped into me since I was a kid… They also say that an excess of it leads to severe mental problems, but I have yet to see any evidence of that.” Tilting his head to the side, Burnley reached out and ran his fingers over my shaved head; I was paralyzed to the point where I could no longer even tremble in fear. “I do apologize. I told you that you never would have to make a decision again, but come to think about it… I was wrong; you see…you do have one more decision to make. If you do decide to fight against this, you will force me to kill you, then I will have no choice but to move on to the next person that my father holds dear to his heart, and I’d say that is Thomas Bell. There is an alternative though, which is to just let it sink in, let go, let it pull you down and take you away. Go to sleep. You won’t feel a thing, and I will not bother with Thomas.”

“No.” I murmured. The word slipped out from my lips before I could even put any thought to it. I had a dislike for Thomas, but I knew that if Burnley got his hands on him, he would be dead in an instant. There was no way he could fight against this tyrant. If it meant that I had to stand up for him in order to save his life, then I would do that.

Raising an eyebrow, Burnley got up off the desk, leaving a smear of blood from his wound behind as he stood up and picked up my glasses from where they were sitting on the desk. “What is this now, Bates? Defending your rival? How noble of you. Even though you know that he’s gotten quite close to Benjamin in the last few months, you still desire to save him.” Unfolding the arms of the glasses, he slid them on my face and looked at me intently. “There you are! That looks a bit more like the Dustin Bates that everyone knows, too bad I don’t have a proper bow tie for you, it would complete the ensemble. Hipster glasses, a black bow tie and not a shred of clothing or decency. I’d say that looks just about right.”

Lifting my head slightly, I craned my neck to look at him. “Burnley, you are insane.”

He shrugged and moved to walk around behind me. I cringed hearing the metal belts of his leather pants unbuckling. There was no doubt what he was planning on doing. I tried desperately to move, but it was useless. “There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased that line.” Standing behind me, he bent down and kissed the back of my neck. I could barely feel those lips when they touched my skin; the drug was making me incredibly numb. “This is your last chance.” Burnley whispered. He slid his hands around to the front of my body and swirled his fingers down over my stomach in tender, almost teasing movements. “Close your eyes and slip away Bates. Let it consume you, take away all the pain. You will wake up and it will all be over. The door will be open and you will be set free. All you have to do is go find Benjamin and tell him what happened. There will be no guilt on your part because you were asleep. Lost in that sweet, blissful sweet sleep of another world. Your conscience will be completely clean.” He snickered. “But not your body.” Moving one of his hands lower, he let it fall down between my legs and glide the length of my shaft; I could barely make out the warm, sticky sensation of the dried blood on his fingertips as he grasped it in a clenched, tight fist. A wave of pain shot through my body, as his fingers wound around it and squeezed with such incredible force I thought I would pass out. There was no pleasure to it at all, but an excruciating pain that controlled those steel fingertips. I could feel the heat from his body, and the hardness of his cock pressing harshly against me from behind, throbbing and engorged with euphoric lust. I knew what he wanted, I knew what he wanted to do and I knew that I had to get out of there. Raising his left hand up, he took hold of my chin and turned my head to the side, so that I was looking over my shoulder at him.

“…..stop this….this is wrong…” I demanded with a weak voice.

He brought his lips over mine, forcing a kiss onto the corner of my mouth to shut me up. It tasted like blood. I felt as though I was going to be sick. It would be so easy just to do as he said and close my eyes; go to sleep, and slip into oblivion. My heart was pounding dangerously fast, and I was incredibly dizzy and lightheaded. The drug was working quickly. I moved my arm slightly and clutched at my chest. I knew what this feeling was. Burnley whispered into my ear. “You are the only one who can stop this Bates. Choose to slip away and pretend it’s not happening to suffer and live through it all. The choice is yours.” He released my cock and slid his hand between my buttocks, letting his fingers explore the tight depths, as he shoved them forcibly in and a slight moan escaped my lips. “Or maybe you want to experience this? You want to feel each sensation as I break you, and rip you apart.” I felt his fingers slip inside of me, pushing in deep and spreading me apart. His fingernails scratched harshly on the layers of flesh, as they dug in deep. The internal nerves exploded in a wave of intense sensation, nearly dropping me down to my knees. I bit down on my lower lip to keep from crying out. I was nothing more than a trapped animal, waiting to be slaughtered. I couldn’t give in, I didn’t want to let him have that much power over me, what he was doing was wrong, how I could ever face Benjamin again knowing the details of what his son had done to me. It would destroy him and humiliate me as well. “I assure you, Dustin Bates… I will break you… you are standing on the edge of a very tall cliff right now, and we both know it, all it is going to take is one small push.. a thrust, if you will and you will go toppling right over the edge. Will you be able to live with what you’ve done? Go tell him. Tell him that you allowed this to happen, that his son did something that even he could not do.”

I felt the tears rising to my eyes again and this time I couldn’t fight against them. I let them flow freely and stream down my sweat and blood covered face. “Go to Hell Burnley! You will never be the man that he is and never will be. I was so wrong about you; there is no hope for you. You are truly one sadistic mother fucker. ” I said through clenched teeth. 

With that, he gripped hold of the back of my head and slammed it forward onto the desk. Clipboards and papers went flying into the room beyond and I watched dully as my glasses slipped off my face and landed onto the flat surface, cracking the lenses in the process. A blinding white pain shot through my head, clouding my vision and blood began to pour down my face and into my eyes. As I was hunched over, Burnley pushed the chair I was leaning on out of the way, sending it rolling against the wall and then pushed me over the desk. I tried to stand up, but he took hold of the sides of my body by the hips, digging his fingers deep into the flesh. I could feel the pressure of each one of his digits bearing down upon my skin and breaking blood vessels. Having me fully under his control, he pushed his shaft inside of me all at once. My heart rattled inside my ribcage, the threat of a heart attack very apparent now, and my blood boiling in my veins, I screamed. The pain was worse than anything I had ever imagined. My vision was distorted by the blow to the head and my eyes stung from the dripping blood flowing down from my forehead. His cock slipped into me, hard and unforgiving; I could feel the flesh tearing open as he started to thrust it in deeper and deeper, without mercy. Pushing hard, each thrust made my body collide with the desk, and the hard metal surface was crushing my thighs over and over again. I could already feel the blood pooling up underneath the skin from the impact of the furniture as well as the pin points of pressure from underneath each one of his fingertips. Burnley was right, there was nothing sexual or euphoric about this. This was his way of punishment, a way to teach a lesson and bring someone into submission. It was sick and sadistic, but for him, it was nothing more than a tool that he could utilize. I could not believe that this was the son of the man that I loved; a harsh and cruel soul whose only purpose in life was to destroy that of his fathers. I knew above anything else that I had to take it all, I refused to give in and let him break me. My body was weakened from the drugs, I couldn’t resist him, but by not submitting and giving into them, perhaps even dying in the process, I could show him what it truly means to love someone. I had to find some way of just getting away from him.

Stretching my fingers out, I scoured the desk, trying to grip something that I could use as a weapon, but everything had fallen off earlier and there was nothing. I wanted him off of me, I wanted him out of me, I couldn’t stand this feeling, I felt dirty and used. It was wrong. The room started spinning and I was beginning to go numb. The drug was starting to take effect on me. Panicking, I knew that I had to try and get my heart rate back up again, but also if it did increase, the drug would kill me faster. It was either slip away into unconsciousness for a few hours, or fight this bastard with everything I had and basically kill myself with a massive overdose. My legs started to give away beneath me, and I felt Burnley force his cock all the way into me again, burying it so deep that his balls were smacking against my ass. He was so strong that every time he pushed, I could feel my spine creak and groan in protest. Each movement brought a rougher shove; a terrifying push deep into me, his fully engorged cock buried so deep, I thought he’d pierce internal organs. I kept screaming, louder and louder; the sound of my voice was loud enough to be heard far beyond the room but he didn’t care. I could scream as much as I wanted, it only excited him and made his thrusts faster and harder. I wanted to die. Removing his hands from my hips, he left his shaft buried inside of me, the torn and bleeding muscles swelling up around it and wrapped his arms around my chest, lightly running his fingers across my nipples. I had to force myself to breathe. “You still resist Bates. How lovely that is. Tell me, how does it feel to be humiliated and exposed like this? Are you ashamed yet?”

“No. I won’t let you break me.” I repeated. “There is nothing you can do to demean me or make me feel guilt. This is rape Burnley, plain and simple, and you will pay for your actions. I won’t beg for mercy, not from you, because I know that you are wholly incapable of showing it.”

“Mercy is highly overrated anyway.” Burnley let out a sadistic laugh that chilled me to the bone. “But we’re hardly done yet.” With a rough yank, he pulled me away from the desk and pushed me against the wall backwards, forcing my hands high above my head and pinning them down. I tried to turn around to see what he was up to, but he responded by pulling his cock completely out of me and then shoving it back in, past all the torn and swollen muscles, ripping everything open again. I screamed out and leaned forward to rest my head against the cool concrete of the wall in front of me, and then I felt his hand come around to my cock and start to stroke it. I choked back my repulsion and tried to pull away from him, but his grip was just too strong, and those overpowering fingers grasped hold of it and started to stroke it, moving in quick, seamless motions that were sending an unwanted sensation of pleasure down my numbed spine. I didn’t want him to touch me, and yet I was waiting with bated breath for the next sensation. “Give into the guilt, let it consume you, rip you apart, destroy you from the inside.” He whispered, kissing the side of my neck. His lips were like liquid fire now.

“stop.. please.. for the love of god, stop this Burnley, this isn’t right and we both know it.” I cried out. “You are his son….”

He leaned in and whispered into my ear. “No, it is right. I think that I’ve found exactly what it is that I need to break you.” His fingers glided along the engorged flesh, stroking me faster and faster, matching the movement with his hips so that they were perfectly in tune. For a moment, I forgot about the pain of his cock being inside of me and my mind only focused on the extreme amount of pleasure that I was receiving from the touch of his fingertips. “Does this remind you of something… someone else hmm? How do I measure up to Benjamin? Is my dick bigger, thicker than his? It must be, because you’re enjoying me shoving it in to you. Tell me exactly how wonderful it was when he did this to you; were his touches lighter than mine? I bet he held back, he really wanted to rip right into you, like I am doing but he was too fucking cowardly to do it. I’ll draw every bit of blood from you if I want to, break every single brittle bone, because you are nothing to me but my pawn, and I am going to play you over and over again, Bates. I will fuck you harder than anyone else has, and when it’s over, you will be left with a broken body and mind. The best part is that long after it’s done; you will be longing and begging for this to happen again. You will want to feel this pain, because there’s more truth to what I am doing than anything else in the world.” My head was spinning, my heart was racing. I could feel the pressure inside of me building up. His words were swirling around in my head, I struggled to listen, and his voice was like velvet, deep and rich with depth, lulling me into some sort of captivity. I kept telling myself that this was wrong, this had to be stopped, but Burnley still refused to let go. Those bloodstained fingers covered every inch of my sensitive cock, and there was nothing I could do to prevent the arousal and euphoric waves of delight that were overcoming me. No no no… how could this be happening? I have absolutely no love for this man… this was Ben’s son.. this was the CHILD… I wanted to stop… please don’t let this go any further, I had to keep my dignity, please please.. please.. My breath came in short spurts now, and behind me Burnley was unforgiving with his movements, precise and ruthless and I was starting to become sore and every time he penetrated me, it felt like I was being violated by razor blades, slicing deep with each movement, but at the same time, he controlled the rolling waves of pleasure underneath the massive grip of his hand, stroking me. I was so confused and torn. How could a mockery of the intimate time Ben and I shared together now be this shame, this farce of sexual pleasure that was making my own body betray me? My eyes closed. I couldn’t take anymore, every nerve was screaming out for release. Burnley was so ruthless and vicious, and yet as he proceeded to grip and stroke my cock, all I could think about was Benjamin doing this. If I closed my eyes, I could see him there, his hands taking control and heightening the pleasure of the situation from the one single night that we had together… the night that I had wanted to last forever. No.. why was I thinking of Benjamin. Wrong wrong wrong.. Stop thinking it Dustin… this is rape. I gritted my teeth hard and held the breath in my throat. I could no longer hold on.

I moaned his name weakly, “Benjamin” the moment before everything exploded. I died inside. The last thing I felt was my body giving into him and the sensation of release as I came hard and fast; a wave of warmth seeping between his steel grip, which was still clutching onto me, hard and vice like. He wouldn’t let me go. Holding me in place, he commanded the movements of my body as it was wracked with spasms of pleasure, reaching the height of climax and exhilaration. He was the one in control of me; he held my entire existence in his hands. All those beautiful stars in the heavens that I had seen when I was with Ben suddenly exploded into a supernova, one bright flash of light and then complete darkness. I brought this on myself. I had just sunk into a black hole, of which there would be no return. What have I done… with Ben’s son… oh my god… How could I have betrayed him like this? I felt the warm, thick cum drip slowly down my legs as the tears streamed out of my eyes. I was guilty; the evidence of my crime was all over my body. This moment could never be taken back. I sealed my own fate.

The wave of pleasure brought me completely down to my knees, and surprisingly he let me slip away from him. I was thankful. His cock was throbbing and still rock hard as my body fell away and dropped down to the floor. I prayed that he wouldn’t touch me again to satisfy himself. I couldn’t live through that a second time. Stepping over me, I glanced up at him and saw his imposing figure looming over me, blood still gushing out of the wound on his side that I had inflicted with the scalpel. He raised an eyebrow and peered down at me with those horrible amber eyes. “Done so soon Bates?” With a sneer, he brought his hand down to his open wound and dipped his fingers in it, then knelt down, straddling me. I tried to concentrate on something else, but I was too terrified to even take myself out of the situation. Bringing his hand to my chest, he traced lines across the flesh with those bloodstained fingers, making loop after loop with his own blood, painting in the gore, warm and thick which sickened me even further. “You will remember my pain.” Burnley whispered to me and then stood up, pulling his beautiful toned body off of me and slowly walked away. Looking down at my chest, I could see that he had drawn a Celtic knot in his own blood on my skin. It was a grim mockery of his father’s insignia. I was instantly repulsed. I lay there on the floor, covered in blood, sweat and semen and closed my eyes. The drug was working, I gave in. Burnley had raped me and I enjoyed it. I let myself take pleasure from the pain he was inflicting on me. I was no better than him. This was the guilt he was talking about. The walls I put up around inside of me to keep myself strong and sure crumbled and fell down to rubble. He had won.

Somewhere in this base Benjamin was locked up in a cell, blind and alone, praying that someone would come and save him, and here I was, flat on my back, riding the waves of sexual pleasure from his own damn son. This feeling was killing me. I heard a shift of material as Burnley pulled his black leather trousers back on and then came to kneel next to me. I didn’t lift my head or even open my eyes. What was the point? I felt him place a hand on my arm and whisper to me. “I told you that you’d never have to make a choice again and I’ve fulfilled my part of the bargain. If you think about it, it was quite merciful on my part. Now you know that you can never truly be with Benjamin, after the fact of what happened here. Can you ever possibly be with that man again, keeping the secret inside of you of how aroused you became with me? Every time that you are in his arms, you will be thinking of mine. Every time he touches you, you will be thinking of me. When you are on the verge of pleasure, begging for release, you will hear my voice inside of your head, telling you that I was the one that pushed you over the edge. I was the one who held you in my hand and commanded that you come for me, and just like that…you did as you were told, because deep down inside you know that you can’t fucking resist me. I am the part of Benjamin that he hides away. What a sick thing to do, Bates… you’ve been fucked by both the father and the son. You should truly be ashamed of yourself.” He bent down and let his lips glide across my cheek and rest over my closed eyelid. “Now that I’ve given you your freedom, it’s time for you to return the favor. An eye for an eye?” He laughed. “I want you to leave here and go find him. Tell him exactly what happened. Tell him who is responsible for this. Let him come for me. I will look forward to it.” Burnley stood up and grabbed hold of the bloody sheet that had been discarded on the floor and draped it over the lower half of my body, letting it fall from his fingertips in slow motion. It felt like a death shroud covering me. Leaning forward, I felt his lips, that Judas kiss, once more upon mine. I could smell the scent of blood, sweat and cum emanating from my feverish flesh and it disgusted me.

He ran his fingers over each one of the cuts and lacerations that he had carved into my torso with the scalpel with pride and I could feel my body tremble, only this time it wasn’t out of lustful excitement, but something else. I was going into shock. Burnley bent down and licked at one of my nipples; I could feel his teeth just barely graze over it, and I tensed up, waiting for the pain that I knew was bound to follow, however, much to my surprise, he just stood up and pulled the sheet up to my neck. Slowly turning, he stepped away from me. “If you’re curious, Bates… I don’t allow myself to just ‘get off’ on just anyone. My pleasure can’t be satiated by something as simple as that. I have learned that there are other ways, more enjoyable that thoroughly excite me, so please don’t think that I received any pleasure out of this, other than accomplishing my task and watching you make a total fool of yourself. You barely fought back; you are miserable and pathetic, easily controlled. I do honestly wonder what my father sees in you. You’re so fucking weak.”

I rolled over to my side and curled up into a ball. I was ready to sleep now. I couldn’t take any more of this. I was completely defeated. I prayed over and over in my head for him to go away. There was silence for a few moments and then I heard the tell-tale clicking of his boots on the concrete as he walked out and left the room, closing the door behind him. Clutching at the hem of the sheet, I balled it up in my hands and wiped the lines of his blood off my chest. I couldn’t bear the weight of it on me any longer. After the last traces of it were gone, I waited for the darkness to lull me into unconsciousness as I lie there in pain and agony. Now I was grateful for the chemicals he had pumped into me, they were a welcome delight; I wished that they would take the memories away, but I knew I was fooling myself, they would never go away. They would be there when I woke up, and I would have to face the reality that was ahead. There was this emptiness inside of me which I knew would never be able to be filled again. Burnley carved a hole into my soul and it was going to kill me. After several moments the darkness came, and I welcomed it. I needed the relief, the blissful nothingness to consume me. As it descended and took me into its shadowy embrace, it felt different, unusual, and strange. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, and then suddenly cried out. I realized that this time the inky blackness that washed over me was tinged with flecks of amber. 

“We can’t stay here forever!” Thomas said, moving Brock’s messenger bag from one shoulder to the other anxiously. “Ben is somewhere out there, and he’s going to run into Burnley, I just know it, we need to find him before that happens!” he pleaded.

Brock helped Lizzie to her feet, and she flashed him a small, uncertain smile. “I know this, Thomas but she’s in no condition to be sprinting around avoiding patrols. We have to wait until she’s stable. She’s confused and potentially in shock right now, we don’t fully know what the side effects are yet from bringing her back, and until she comes around we’re stuck.”

Throwing the bag down on the floor, Thomas shook his head. “Then you stay here with her. I need to be out there looking for Benjamin.”

“Thomas knock it off already. It’s not like I am asking you to have a slumber party.” Brock walked over to him and lowered his voice, speaking just above a whisper. “Look at her. Her eyes are glassy and unfocused, her hands are shaking, and she can barely stand, completely catatonic. She’s not going anywhere yet. You need to do to the right thing and go over to her and comfort her. She came back from the dead for you, and you’re ready to just turn your back on her and chase after Benjamin! Your words saved her.” He sighed and picked up his bag off the floor from where Thomas had tossed it. “What did you say to her anyway?”

Looking up at Brock, he then turned his gaze to Lizzie, who had now taken off her shoes and was now starting to pace around the room. “I told her that I loved her.”

“I know why you whispered it to her, Thomas.”

“You do?” he asked.

Brock shook his head. “It’s Benjamin. You couldn’t bring yourself to say those words in front of him, fearing that you might lose him. All blame aside about who altered the visor, it’s perfectly understandable now that his memories of Dustin are gone. You are all that he has, but you need to also see the big picture here too, Thomas. We need to get out of here, Ben is an asset to us, and we need him to stay focused and on point. If you keep pushing him right now, we’re going to lose him. All this stuff can wait until later when we’re back safe at the Shallow Bay to be sorted out. For Christ sake, look where we are, we are in a cell in a F.E.C. facility with whatever the hell the Eden project is started trapped like rats and you want to assert your dominance like some sort of alpha male bullshit over Ben. So either snap out of it and work with us, or take your shit and go out there on your own. I won’t stop you. Just don’t leave Lizzie like that.”

The expression on Thomas’s face changed, softened and showed a bit of compassion. It was obvious that even though the two men didn’t see eye to eye, Thomas had a deep respect for Brock. Since he had been the only one to stand up for him since his recovery for being brainwashed, he felt as though he was in desperate need of a friend; someone to confide in. “I’m sorry Brock. I don’t know what came over me. I.. I just panicked is all I guess.”

Brock smiled at him, a goofy, light hearted grin that he was so famous for and gave him a pat on the shoulder. “It’s alright man; we’re all under a lot of stress here, you especially. You need to stop overreacting to things, because one of these days it’s going to get you into serious trouble. Everything will be okay once we collect everyone and go home. I think that—“Brock’s words were suddenly cut short by a strange sound coming from the corner of the room. Both men turned and looked, to find Lizzie standing with her arms outstretched, her fingers arched, digging her nail into the concrete walls. There was blood running down her arms from where she had ripped the flesh of her fingertips open and peeled her nails back, as she continued to scratch at the walls.

“What the hell?” Brock dropped his bag again and sprinted across the room and grabbed her by the shoulders. Lizzie immediately began to fight him, kicking and biting at every inch of his exposed flesh. Screaming at the top of her lungs, she threw her head back and flailed about like a mad woman, shouting numbers, equations, and gibberish. Holding her tightly in his arms, she growled and snarled at him, trying to break free. “Thomas—don’t just stand there help me!” Brock shouted at him.

Not quite knowing what he was expected to do, he slowly approached Lizzie with caution, trying to avoid her wild kicks and punches. He cleared his throat and spoke in a soothing tone to her. “Ah…Lizzie, have I ever told you about how Alice got into Wonderland?” He waited, knowing that she would only respond with more violent actions, but the hesitation was part of his plan. “Here, wait… it’s better that I show you.” Thomas reached into his pocket producing a silver ornate antique key. Lizzie immediately stopped fighting and stood still in Brock’s arms, completely mesmerized by it. “You see, after Alice fell down that rabbit hole and was lost in the darkness, she realized that she was suddenly very small and all alone. High above her she could see the sky and all the shining stars, twinkling brightly in the night, but she was far, far too tiny to reach them. Around her were four walls and a single door, which was locked, with no way out. She wrapped her arms around herself and sank down to the floor, crying. She panicked, throwing a fit, because she didn’t want to be trapped there forever. After a while, she forced herself to take a breath and calm down, and then she remembered something her aunt used to say, about believing in 5 impossible things before breakfast. Alice always thought the woman was completely daft and a little on the insane side, until now. Now, in this moment she knew what her aunt had meant when speaking those words. That insane gibberish meant that even when things appear hopeless, and there is no way out, no solution to be found, all you have to do is close your eyes and believe in the impossible and it will happen. But you have to believe in it… When Alice finally let go of her thoughts, and believed in the impossible, she opened her eyes and there before her was the silver key that led to Wonderland, waiting for her.” As Thomas spoke, he moved closer and closer to Lizzie and now was standing directly in front of her. She had calmed down and had her eyes locked on Thomas and the silver key held in his fingertips. Thomas motioned for Brock to release her. Brock shot him a cautious look, but took a chance and slowly let her go.

“I know you’re locked away in your own little dark room, Lizzie, but I believe in you. I know that you can find a way out.” Thomas spoke, very quietly. “All you have to do is believe in the impossible too. Let go of the things that are hurting you. Can you do that? ” he asked her. Lizzie shook her head. Leaning forward, Thomas whispered into her ear. “Close your eyes Lizzie. Believe in the impossible.” Doing as she was told, Lizzie closed her eyes. Thomas took her hand in his and placed the silver key in the palm of her hand and then wrapped her fingers around it, ignoring the deep gouges from scratching the wall and drying blood. “When you open your eyes, Lizzie, you will find the very thing that you believe in, they key that will set you free. As long as you believe in it, it will be yours. Can you do that for me?”

“Yes.” Lizzie spoke, her voice very small and childlike.

“Open your eyes now Lizzie.”

Her eyes opened and Lizzie looked down at the tiny silver key in her hand, then to Thomas and Brock slightly confused. “Why are you both staring at me like that... I don’t know what happened. Did I do something bad?” She whimpered. Thomas walked over and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly. “I am sorry!”

“Shhh… No need to be sorry. You’re safe now.” Thomas comforted her, keeping her close to his chest and ran his fingers through her hair as she cried against him.

Brock let out a relieved sigh and nodded to Thomas. “Good job, but you know that’s not how the story goes.” He said quietly.

Thomas shrugged. “It’s the only thing I could think of. The little I remember of my mother was her reading me Alice in Wonderland, but I was too small to actually pay attention to all the details, so I may have gotten some parts mixed up.” He looked down at Lizzie with a satisfied smile. “At least I got the important parts right. When I heard her voice speaking those words always made me feel better, and I guess I was hoping that it would do the same for her.”

“Where did you get that key from?” Brock asked.

“I found it out in the desert in some ruins a long time ago, along with some books and blank journals which I thought were too beautiful to just leave out there rotting away. I thought it was an unusual trinket that I kept with me for good luck. I guess it worked this time.” Thomas took a long, deep breath and looked to Brock. “What happened to her?”

Brock frowned. “I am not sure, since its all new territory for me. I’ve never heard of anyone coming back from the conversion process. So it could be anything from just a minor side effect, to some long-term reoccurring problem. There really isn’t a way of knowing for certain.”

“Long-term?” Thomas repeated. For a moment he looked down at Lizzie, who had stopped crying and was still resting her head against his chest, but listening intently. “I don’t want that to happen to her again. We have to find a way to fix her.”

“No Thomas.” Brock blurted out loudly. “I know what you are thinking and it’s a very bad idea. We’re done with those goddamn visors now; I won’t put another person through that, it’s too dangerous. Haven’t you learned your lesson yet? Look what happened to Benjamin.”

“Exactly! Look what happened to Benjamin—he was dying, and it completely healed him! So you’re ready to say no and just going to let her suffer, living in fear that she might have another episode at any given moment? Brock, we have the opportunity to completely bring her back to us, make her whole again, and I want to take it. I know that we haven’t had the best of luck with the visors, but this may possibly be our last chance at using them. Look, if you’re concerned, you can do all the coding yourself. Please.” Thomas begged. He could see the doubt and apprehension in Brock’s eyes, and knew full well that he was against the use of them, but he had to try to convince him. Once they left the base, they would never have access to the devices again. It was now or never.

Lizzie lifted her head and looked over to Brock. There were deep dark circles under her eyes, which were slightly cloudy and unfocused. “It’s still in my head. Everything. There is so much in there, parts of me, parts of others, thoughts and dreams, it’s all jumbled together. It’s so hard to hold it all in, it hurts. If I let go of it and let it take over again, I might hurt someone. I don’t like the visor idea either Brock, but Thomas is right. It’s going to happen again. I can just feel it.” She looked at him with her eyes pleading. “I can’t live like this. I will go insane. I trust you Brock, help me.” Brock was like a brother to Lizzie; he looked out for her, protected and watched over her from a distance while she was in the Messengers. Now she silently prayed that he would listen to reason and go with Thomas’s plan. Lizzie couldn’t bear the feeling of losing control and possibly hurting him, or Thomas. It scared her to the bone.

Lifting his bag once again back up onto his shoulders, Brock headed for the door with a sigh. “Alright. We will go back to the lab, but we do this on my terms.” Slipping out of the room, he headed down the long corridor. He walked a few feet and then waited as Thomas and Lizzie followed him, keeping a few steps behind. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that Thomas had hold of her hand, holding onto her tightly and would occasionally lean over and kiss the side of her head. Each small, tender touch made her smile and move a little bit closer to him. Their sudden affection for one another worried him; Thomas’s emotions were all over the place, and when they caught up with Benjamin, it would further complicate things, even though he had warned Thomas not to start anything, he had a sinking feeling that it would cause a lot of trouble. The last thing they needed was a confrontation with Benjamin. Ben was usually very good at keeping his emotions in check, so Brock wasn’t too worried about him, it was Thomas who was the wild card. It also didn’t sit well with him that they were backtracking to the visor lab. They should have been looking for Benjamin and Dustin; time was running short and they still had no plan of escape yet. Seeing the look in Lizzie’s face when she went feral did frighten him. Brock bit his lip, and felt his stomach pitch. He had lied to Thomas. He knew what happened when the conversion process went bad. He had seen it before during his time with the F.E.C. The Carnivore would reject the coding, partially or completely and suffer strange, violent outbursts triggered by the amount of information being pumped into them. Once this started, it was never reversible. It would get worse and worse if left untreated. Simple, short outbursts would become more violent and frequent, resulting in self-mutilation or murderous rage toward others. Most of the Carnivores that this had happened to were immediately put down before the disease could progress, but the few that slipped by were usually caught weeks later, devouring their kin. Brock kept this and other information to himself. There was no need to push Thomas any further.

“Are you okay Lizzie, are you cold? How are you feeling? Should we slow down a bit?” Thomas asked, looking down at her with a worried expression.

Pulling the Carnivore robes tight around her as she walked, she flashed him a smile and leaned her head against him. She was pale and haggard but kept pace, never lagging too far behind. “I am fine, Thomas. Really I am. For the first time in my life, I am okay.” She slipped one of her hands into her pocket and let her fingers lightly run over the tiny silver key he had given her. “I finally have my impossible thing.” She whispered under hear breath, too quiet for him to hear. “It was with me all along.”

Deciding to throw caution to the wind, Brock led them down the same path that they had taken to get to the prison block. He knew it was dangerous to backtrack, but it was the most direct route and he wanted to get back to the lab as quickly as possible. Dustin and Benjamin were still out there somewhere, and the sooner that Lizzie got taken care of, the sooner they could start the search for their friends and leave. The facility was far too quiet and lacking of guards for his taste, he could tell that something serious was going on. The F.E.C. simply would not leave any bit of information unprotected. He also had a secondary motive for wanting to return to the lab, and that was to hopefully find another laptop or mobile device that he could commandeer to find a alternate route of escape. Always being the technical person, Brock felt comfortable around technology and electronic devices, and being without one made him incredibly anxious.

Traveling down the empty corridors; his mind fully focused on taking care of Lizzie, Thomas looked up to see that Brock had stopped at the end of the hall. “Brock, hey are you alright?” he called out.

Brock slowly turned around. “Do you smell that?” he asked, wrinkling his nose. “It smells like..”

“Something is on fire.” Thomas finished. “Oh my god... no no no!” he shouted and let go of Lizzie, immediately running in the direction that Brock was facing at full speed.

“Thomas! Wait! Shit!” Brock cursed and grabbed a very confused Lizzie's arm. Walking as quickly as he could with her, he noticed that the corridor was enveloped in a lurking haze of smoke. It seared into his lungs and made him cough profusely. Fighting his way through the cloud, he came to where Thomas was standing, at the entrance of the lab and his jaw dropped open. The visor laboratory had been set on fire. From floor to ceiling there were large black scorch marks of where flames had once been, flowing up each of the walls with eerie symmetry. All of the computers had turned into a pile of melting plastic, which was still hissing and bubbling wet with the water from the sprinkler system that had automatically triggered, but too late. The fire had burned so hot, so quickly that the water was only able to put out the flames after they had consumed most of the contents inside the room. The shelves on the wall that once displayed the unused visors were destroyed, nothing more than bits and pieces of burnt wood. Brock walked over the walls, gazing up at the black scorch marks. “This isn't right. Fire doesn't normally burn in a pattern like this, across all four walls, all at once.” Reaching out, he touched one of the walls, touching the burnt surface, letting the soot coat his fingers. He glanced over to Thomas, who was kneeling down in front of the shelf where the visors had been. “I think that this was intentionally set.”

“You're right.” Thomas reached down and ran his hand through some white ash that was covering the floor. “The visors... they are self-healing devices. Nothing can destroy them, except a self-destruct code. Someone came in here and programmed all the devices at the same time, then torched the room so that all the data would not be recovered.” Taking a handful of the fine ash, he let it flow through his fingertips, watching it as it slowly drifted down back onto the floor with a dim fascination. “I only know one person who is capable of that.”

Brock looked up from poking through a burnt out computer terminal. “Don't say that Thomas. We don't know that Selene would do such a thing. She said it herself that whatever she was looking for wasn't here, and was going to leave. Why would she come back to torch the lab when it was useless to her?”

Standing up, Thomas wiped the ash off his finger tips and stormed across the room. “Oh I don't know, maybe she's got some long-term hatred for the F.E.C. and wants to bring them down all by herself? Sounds about right, doesn’t it?” Rolling his eyes, Thomas started to raise his voice, becoming more and angrier by the second. “My mother, the GREAT ANTIGRAVITY CARNIVORE, single handedly intent on ending the Free Energy Corporation and restoring Prox to its once great beauty! Who cares about who she hurts in the process, who cares what family she throws away? As long as she's the hero in the end, it doesn't matter what else happens, does it?” Thomas kicked at a cracked monitor lying on the floor, sending it rattling out the door. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”

“Thomas...” Lizzie whispered, making her way over to him, she reached out and touched his arm, but he walked away; pacing like a caged animal.

Looking around, Brock frowned. Thomas’s outbursts were becoming far too frequent and tiresome. He didn’t know how much longer he could continue talking him down; it was starting to take its toll on him and wear at his patience. “Stop blaming her. That's your mother you are talking about, Thomas, and unless you have proof that she did this, you have no right to go pointing fingers. We just met the woman and you're already ready to call her out for being an unfit parent. What the hell is wrong with you?” Taking a moment, Brock had to force himself to calm down. Thomas's accusations and growing anger was becoming infectious and he knew that someone had to keep a stable mental state, or else they would never escape. Trying to diffuse the situation, yet again, Brock spoke gently to him. “Maybe there's another lab somewhere, this couldn't possibly be the only one. Calm yourself down, Thomas and think this through logically. “Don't let your emotions get the way again.” Brock warned him. “There's no sense in sticking around here, let's just move on, if we can find another computer terminal I might be able to access the database with the codes that Selene gave me and we see if there are any other labs in this base. With a facility this size there must be another one.” He stopped and thought for a moment. “They should have another one in the opposite end; keeping both areas separated and secure would be logical in case of an attack. We can head to the South sector and look there. Dustin and Ben are still out there too, we might be able to pick up their location as well, but we need to get out of here first.”

Following Thomas around the room, Lizzie stopped behind him and reached up, placing her fingertips inches away from his shoulder, but he walked away, not even noticing her movement. “And how are we even going to find our way around here Brock?” Thomas snapped. “How do you propose we navigate a place this size without a proper map. That device you have on your wrist is useless without up linking to a computer. We could spend hours wandering around in circles looking! You are going to have us wandering around here blind. It’s a bad idea.”

“Arguing about it isn't going to help either!” Brock said with a sigh. “We are going to have to take a chance and---” he suddenly stopped, his thought cut off in mid-sentence. Thomas waited impatiently for him to finish and then saw the expression on Brock's face change. He was staring behind him at the place where Lizzie was standing.

Slowly turning around, Thomas saw Lizzie in the corner of the room, her feet covered in the white ash and her body contorted into a hunched over position. She had drawn the cowl of the Carnivore hood over her face so that only her nose and mouth could be seen. Her small shoulders were drawn down, bringing the edges of the cloak forward, giving her a ghastly, disheveled appearance. Only slightly more disturbing than seeing the sight her like this was the fact that there was a high, shrill laughter coming from her pale lips. Thomas took one step forward, his boot crunching on some broken glass and she twitched, crouching down even further, looking like a cat ready to spring upon its prey.

Brock put his arm out, in front of Thomas. “Wait. I wouldn't move any closer. We don't know what she's going to do. We need to be cautious here. Give her room. These attacks aren’t the same each time that they happen.”

Thomas narrowed his eyes at Brock. “For someone who claims that he has never seen this happen to anyone before, you have a lot of information on it, Brock. I am not going to let her have another episode like she did back there in the cell. You can stay here if you want and watch, but I know she's in pain. I brought her out of it before, I can do it again.” Batting Brock's arm away, Thomas took another step forward and Lizzie straightened up, standing at her full height, fanning the cloak out around her and snarling at him. “Lizzie, it's okay. You fought this once before and I know you can do it again. I am here with you, remember that impossible thing? It's still possible, but only if you believe in it. Find the key that releases you.” Moving closer and closer to her as he spoke, Thomas could hear Brock behind him, still giving him warnings about approaching her, but he chose to ignore them. He knew that she was depending on him now for her to save him. He was all that she had. When they were walking down the hall, hand in hand, something felt right between them, like the final piece of a puzzle that was snapped into place. All of his life he had been longing for something, someone to belong to, and when Benjamin came along, he filled his life with almost everything that he needed, Thomas had never felt empty or alone but part of him always held back. Was this what he was waiting for? Had the answer been in front of him all this time, but he was too blind to see it? Lizzie, this beautiful young girl with her innocent eyes, looking up to him every single day, always remaining silent, keeping her love hidden away deep in her heart, afraid to show it was now the very thing that he wanted to protect, to live for, to love.

Holding his hand out to her, Thomas whispered her name. “Lizzie” and waited. She did not respond to him, but instead held her ground. “It's alright. You don't have to be afraid anymore. All these years you’ve been hiding your feelings for me, afraid to speak up and say something. Now I know the pain that you've been putting yourself through for so long, and I want to take it away. Let me do this, please. I know that I can, because deep down inside, I am feeling the same way. You have to beat this sickness that is trying to take you away from me. Fight it Lizzie.” Thomas stood in place, he looked back to Brock for a moment, who had a worried look on his face and back the Lizzie. He took a deep breath, knowing what his next words had to be. “Fight it for me… because I love you.”

The room fell completely silent. No one moved or spoke. Brock stared at Thomas for long moments, silently praying that the words he had just heard were the truth and not some mindless drivel to try and snap her back to reality again. He recalled how he also had suffered in silence, keeping his own true feelings hidden away from Dustin for so long, only choosing to reveal them at the worst time possible, after Dustin had already fallen for Benjamin. He hoped that Thomas would be able to be true to Lizzie, and set her free, because after all that they had been through, a little happiness couldn't hurt.

Slowly rising from her crouched position, Lizzie slightly lifted her head to look at Thomas, letting the material covering her eyes fall away. He could see small strands of her hair slip out from beneath the covering, framing her pale face as her lips parted. “He’s going to find me, Thomas. He won’t let me leave with you. I can hear his voice inside my head, calling for me, whispering things—telling me to do things, and I can’t fight it. It keeps getting louder and louder. He’s laughing.”

“Who is in your head?” Brock asked.

“Burnley. He tells me that he’s going to find us and do horrible things to us.” Lizzie suddenly began to twitch, her body making awkward, jerking movements as her fingers curled into twisted shapes.

Brock called out to Thomas. “We’re losing her again. She thinks she’s hearing his voice in her head. You have to convince her that it’s not real. You are the only one she will listen to, keep her talking.”

Lizzie’s voice was flat and monotone as she spoke, her eyes shifting between the two men. “The room has cracked walls. I can see it. There is nothing in it but a single steel chair with straps on it, and a drain in the floor. There’s nothing else in there. No windows, no light… just the darkness…the darkness and Burnley. You won’t be able to move or see him when he starts to slice into your skin, but you will feel it with intense agony. He wants to slowly peel each layer of flesh off in strips, not too thick, not too thin… but the perfect size. You will scream. He will laugh. The worst part is that in the darkness, you won’t see the blood running down his face, covering his mouth and teeth as he slides those tender bits of meat he’s just carved from you between his teeth and starts to chew. He’s going to enjoy the feeling of the juices sliding down his throat, still warm and thick. His teeth with gnaw at the tender muscle and rip at the tendons, savoring each bite. He’s going to rip you apart, bit by bit, until there is nothing left but your beating heart, which he will then also devour, smacking his lips in triumph.”

Without thinking, Thomas stepped forward and she immediately stepped back away from him. “Lizzie, stop this! He’s not in your head. You’re coming out of the conversion process and this is just a episode, a side effect! It will go away, I promise! Let me help you.”

“Thomas, don’t go any closer to her.” Brock warned. “This time it’s different. Look in her eyes. She looks like a cornered animal. Give her room, let her work it out. If you frighten her--”

Thomas whipped his head around and gave Brock an annoyed glance. “Stay out of this. She’s my responsibility now. Don’t tell me what to do. You take care of your own! Dustin is out there, go find him!” Turning his attention back to Lizzie, he sighed and shook his head. “Lizzie, no one is not coming for us. We’re safe for the moment, reach out and take my hand, I will make sure that nothing happens to you. I can get you out of here.”

It was at that moment when one of the computer monitors, burnt out and flooded with water from the sprinklers let loose a spray of electrical sparks behind them. Jumping to attention, Brock and Thomas turned and looked toward it as it caught fire, sending flames high into the air of the lab. Brock went into action, springing on his feet and tossing the burnt out shell onto the floor where the flames couldn’t cause any more damage and stomped them out. Thomas turned from Brock back to Lizzie, but she was already at the door, with the cloak pulled over her face.

“She’s going to run! Thomas, stop her!” Brock shouted. “If we lose her, we might not ever find her again in a facility this size!”

Remaining at the door for a moment, Lizzie sneered at them, teasing with her words. “Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! With a snicker-snack he will take your head and leave you dead.” Giggling, she turned quickly and flew out the door, her long black cloak covered in ash and dirt billowing out behind her like a ghost.

Thomas and Brock exchanged panicked glances and then were out the door, following after her at a breakneck pace. As the ran down the hall, blood pumping wildly in their veins, the lights overhead started to flicker on and off, making it difficult to see. Lizzie darted around corners with ease, her black robes slipping over the edges of the walls and disappearing like a shadow. As she ran faster and faster, the ash on the bottom of her cloak billowed out behind her, leaving a white dust cloud hanging in the air at each turn. Her pace increased as she led the two men through the maze of corridors, leading them down passageways that were unusually narrow and confining, the tight space choking off the air flow and making it almost claustrophobic.

As he ran, Thomas kept his eyes trained on her; he refused to let her leave his sight. There were words echoing in his head as he ran, he didn’t know where he had heard them before, or where they came from but he kept hearing them repeat over and over. ‘I found in you, what was lost in me.’ Without Benjamin, Thomas felt truly lost. Ben gave him reason to be courageous and brave; to find strength to get out of bed in the morning and believe in himself. Now that he was gone, Thomas was forced to find these things on his own, or else he would just disappear and fade away. Lizzie had come back into his life to reassure him that he was not alone, to give him a reason to stand up for himself, a reason to be needed once again. Thomas had been there for when Benjamin needed him, when he was at his worst, and now he was going to make sure that he would be there for her too. They both needed each other. Clenching his hands, Thomas ran as fast as he could. No matter where she went, he was going to find her. Underneath his breath, he whispered. “I will find you.”

The strange wild-eyed woman held onto my hands with a surprising strength, keeping me firmly pinned down to the bed. Flicking the long black curls of hair out of her face, she scowled at me. “First things first, I am going to let go of you, and you are just going to remain completely still on that bed, letting the intravenous fluids run into you. Like I said before, they are cleansing your system of that drug, which you were injected with, if you fight against it, it’s going to kill you. So suck it up, and lay down. I am not going to hurt you, as a matter of fact; I saved your life, so if you want to go on continuing to live, then do as I say. Got it?”

I struggled to focus in the dimly lit room and there was blinding pain behind my eyes. I nodded to her in a haze of confusion and she slowly released me and adjusted the IV line that had shifted slightly in my arm. The moment she moved the needle, a blinding wave of intense pain shot up my arm and I nearly passed out. Seeing the discomfort in my face, she managed a small smile at me. “Sorry about that but it’s your own fault for fighting me. Your veins are almost completely collapsed so I am surprised I got the line in at all.” Rising to her feet, I could see that she was clearly not one of the F.E.C. operatives, although the long black cloak that she wore did resemble the Carnivore robes that flowed out behind her as she walked away from the bed. Something silvery and sparkling caught my eye as she turned her head and began rummaging around in the storage cabinets; it was a crescent moon shaped hair pin, embedded with pale iridescent jewels that reflected the light like stars in the night sky. Returning to my side, she dropped down a blanket and motioned for me to pick it up. “You might want to pull that over yourself. I can’t stand looking at a corpse.”

Confused, I bent down to pick up the blanket as every single one of the muscles in my body all screamed out in agony at the same time. Letting out a cry, I toppled over, nearly falling off the bed and she was at my side in an instant, retrieving the blanket for me. Carefully easing me back onto the mattress, she unfolded it and draped it over my swollen, bruised body and came to sit at the foot of the bed. Folding her hands in her lap, she lowered her head a bit and rested a hand on one of my legs. “I know what happened to you, Dustin, and I also know who did it too. Why he set you free, I am not completely sure, it’s not above him to play with people like this, but either way, you are in danger and need to leave this place as soon as you can.”

I closed my eyes for a moment and leaned back onto the pillow, as the memories of what he had done came flooding back all at once. Each painful stroke of the scalpel that he had sliced my skin with, I remembered; each sting of the needle he shoved into my vein I remembered; and worst of all the feeling of him violating by body all hit me like a tidal wave of agony and I began to tremble. The words that fell from his soft lips as he kissed me over and over rung out in my ears, and brought tears to my eyes. By giving into him and taking pleasure in the pain that he was inflicting on me, he had won, and with his winning came a great prize; my betrayal of Benjamin. I would never now be able to look him in the face and tell him the truth of what happened in that room. Not now, not ever. Burnley had in fact, broken me. If I told Benjamin the truth, he’d be disgusted and repulsed by it, and go on a murderous rampage to kill his only son, but if I kept it silent, locked up in the back of my head, I would never be able to be close or intimate with Benjamin again, knowing that Burnley’s viciousness and savage sadisticness brought me to the heights of pleasure and I enjoyed each moment of it. This knowledge would destroy Ben. Keeping my eyes closed was all I could do for the moment to hold back the tears that threatened to flow from deep within me. The darkness comforted me, consumed me and cooled off my feverish flesh. I shut everything out, all I could hear was the sound of my own heart beating, and feel the weight of his firm body against mine. No! I had to stop this. I had to stop thinking of those cold, dead eyes staring at me full of lust and intensity, waiting to consume my soul and shatter my body over and over again. Each bruise he had inflicted on me throbbed painfully; my flesh was the canvas for his fiendish, sick plans for revenge on his father. I could feel my chest starting to close up, and it was difficult to breathe. I wanted his lips on mine, forcing that hot breath into me, scorching my lungs and killing me slowly. I craved his hands on the back of my neck again, pushing my head forward onto the desk, I wanted to hear my skull cracking open, I wanted to bleed for him. Why was I thinking of this?!? It had to stop! I had to make it stop. Opening up my eyes, I sat up and groped around, looking for that intravenous line that tied me to this life. I wanted it out; I wanted the poison inside of me, ending my life. I wanted death. My fingers scratched and clawed at both of my elbows, desperately trying to find it. I yanked the blanket off me, my skin was on fire, I couldn’t stand to have that weight on top of me. I wanted Burnley there instead, holding me down, crushing me, and taking my life away. I needed it. Let me die by those cruel hands, so I wouldn’t have to look his father in the eyes again.

On the verge of madness, I felt cool, soft hands fall over my forehead and pull me backwards and instantly I gave in, falling backwards into a pile of black velvet and lace. There was a wet, damp cloth placed over my eyes and I could pick up a very calming scent of cinnamon and clove. “Dustin, it’s alright. Shhh, keep breathing, stay with me. You are hallucinating, it’s the drug leaving your system, take my hand and hold onto it. Squeeze it as hard as you can, don’t be afraid of hurting me, it’s alright…do what you have to, to follow the sound of my voice.” The woman was now laying on the bed with me, she had pulled my body up against her chest and stretched out next to me with her back up against the wall, and was cradling me like a child. Removing the cloth from my eyes, she swirled it across my sweat stained face, washing away all the dried blood, tears and dirt. The lace from her sleeve would occasionally brush up against my throat, falling over it and reassuring me that she was real. “There you go. You’re coming back around again. Take your time; I am going to stay right here with you.”

I couldn’t bring myself to look at her. Instead, I kept my head down and my eyes focused on the pristine white blanket she had tucked around me. “I… am… sorry.” I mumbled. I really didn’t know what to say to her. I didn’t even want to speak at all. Every time I opened up my lips, they still tasted like Burnley; his presence was all around me. I knew that I could never get water hot enough to wash his scent off my skin, not ever. “I wished he would have killed me, I don’t think I can live like this. I can’t stop thinking about it.”

“You’ve been through hell. That is how Commander Burnley deals with those who are to be punished. He doesn’t resort to brainwashing by any modern means, he knows how to do it on his own; it’s a trait he inherited I suppose. He doesn’t just rape people’s bodies, but he does it to their minds as well with his words, which makes him completely ruthless.” Selene sighed and gave me a reassuring touch. “I will do what I can to ease your pain. You should already be through the worst of it. Just give your body a little while to catch up.” She said to me in a soft, delicate voice. I was safe now, cradled in the layers of her black coat, sinking into a sea of oblivion. “Fight it, fight him.”

“Who are you?” I asked through parched lips.

She didn’t answer right away, but kept mopping at the sweat on my brow. “Selene.” Was all she said.

“Why are you helping me? Are you with the F.E.C.?” I asked.

I could feel her breathing slightly change as my head rested upon her chest. She placed a hand over my jawline and ran her fingers across my cheek; it was a tender, almost mother-like touch. “I was with them, years ago, but no longer. The F.E.C. has a way of taking things away from you, things that you cannot put a value on, irreplaceable things, and I foolishly didn’t see this until it was too late. They destroy people for their own gain. In the end, we are nothing more but pawns to them, to be shifted across the chessboard and played at the most opportune moment.” She stretched her arm out and let it fall over my bare chest; her touch was light and almost ethereal.

Silence fell upon us for a moment and I could tell that she was mulling something over in her mind, debating on whether or not to reveal her reasoning for being in this awful place. I glanced down at my arms, at all the wounds and lacerations from Burnley's scalpel that had sliced me over and over and let out a sigh. He had broken more than just my spirit; he had broken my body as well. Selene reached forward and grabbed hold of the blanket, pulling it up around me so that I wouldn't have to look at the massive amount of damage. Then she started to speak again. “Burnley is a terrible person. He does things to people in a way that no one can ever explain, he seems to know what that person's weakness is and use it against them. He manipulates uses and terrifies people. Rumor has it that even some of the people in the high ranks of the F.E.C. are afraid of him as well. What he did to you is completely unforgivable, and I know that he did it for a reason.... and I feel partly responsible for it.”

I looked to her in confusion. “I don't understand. How can you be held responsible for anything that that lunatic has done? He's clearly insane and homicidal.”

Selene took the damp cloth off my head and wrung it out, and then placed it back on my forehead with slightly shaking fingers. “Years ago, I created the Ocular visor system, along with my husband to be used strictly for medical purposes. The F.E.C. wanted it. When we refused, he was murdered and I was blamed. While on the run from the authorities with my son, they came to me and offered me a place to continue the research, without fear of being persecuted and I accepted. Only when it came time for the visors to be finished, they demanded that I alter them for brainwashing purposes. I refused and they took my son from me. Instead of fighting them, I ran away, hoping that someday I could come back for him.” Her voice lowered and became tinged with sorrow and guilt. “I spent years looking for him, and there was never any trace. I hacked into every database I could find and there was no record at all. I was ready to give up and just let fate take its course when the F.E.C. found me and made me another offer.” Her voice wavered and grew tense. “I should have never listened to them, I KNEW that they would never made good on any of their ‘deals’, but there was the possibility that maybe this time things would be different. They promised me that if I used their new Everything Machine and traveled to this other place, bringing back something with me, something that they needed and would give anything to possess, I could have my son back. Easy as that. We'd be free.”

I suddenly sat up, each of my muscles complained and screamed out in pain, but I had to look at her. I turned around and saw the tears welling up in her eyes. There was so much regret and sorrow there. “You took Benjamin's son. You were the one who brought Burnley here.”

Immediately rising from the bed, she threw the rag down and walked away, keeping her back towards me. All I could see was the dark outline of her shape in the black coat and that crescent moon shaped hair pin, shining brightly in the dim light. “I did not know who the Messengers were, or who Benjamin was,I kept to myself, while searching for my son, there's no way I could have known. I didn’t see what harm it could be to give them what they wanted, just this once. Had I known that the things I did back then would cause so much trouble now, I would have never done it.” Selene turned slightly and looked over her shoulder at me. “I came back here because I needed to make amends for things that I once did, terrible things that I am still paying for even until this day. I cannot find peace within myself until this is done.”

“You kidnapped a CHILD Selene. You took him away from his parents to give him to people that you knew were going to abuse him!”

Whirling around, I could see that she was distraught and upset and I felt bad for my harsh words almost immediately. “I didn’t know that for certain! All I wanted was my son back! Thomas was all that I had, and they kept him from me! I was so young and stupid. From the moment I put the little boy on the back of that motorcycle and drove off, part of me kept thinking that what I was doing was wrong, but I ignored it.” She leaned over close to me, I could see the fierceness in her dark eyes, and it was like smoldering coals. “And do you want to know the worst part of it all? He screamed so much that I couldn't stand it. I gagged him with a black scarf so he would shut up for the rest of the journey, and blindfolded him so I didn’t have to hear or see him. I couldn’t take his eyes on me, staring me down, accusing me. Some mother I am...” Selene opened the closet doors and pulled out some clothing, clutching it in her hands; I could see that her knuckles were white as she tried to compose herself. “At the end of it all, the F.E.C. took Burnley away and refused to give up Thomas. I was furious, I threatened to slice the throat of the scientist who came to take the child from me and in retaliation, and they put a gun to Burnley’s head. If I didn't leave peacefully, they would assassinate him right in front of me. I couldn't bear to see another child lost. So once again, I backed down, turned around and ran away. Just like I always do.” She wiped at the corner of her eyes with her fingertips and then tossed some clothing onto the bed next to me. “The IV drip is almost done; you've got color back in your skin. Chances are that you might have some internal bleeding, broken ribs and tons of bruising, but there's nothing I can do for that. Get dressed and get out of here while you can. Your friends are out there looking for you. If you are lucky you might catch up with them before it's too late.” Without another word, she went into the next room, with her long black coat flowing out behind her and shut the door. I was all alone.

I sat on the edge of the bed for a long time, my mind racing with so many thoughts. After some time, I finally managed to delicately release the needle from my arm with minimal difficulty and pull myself into a standing position. The room spun, but not much. The body aches were the worst. Selene had saved my life with her quick thinking, but now I felt that she was abandoning me and leaving me to the wolves. I knew that I wouldn’t last long without her, I needed her help. Stumbling over to the floor length mirror on the wall, I glanced at my naked, disheveled body for only a moment before turning away in disgust. I knew that once I found Ben, there was no way that I would be able to keep any of this secret. Covered in bruises and lacerations, from head to foot, I could probably keep most of them concealed by the clothing Selene had brought me, but the gouge on my forehead from where Burnley had smashed it on the desk, my shaved and tattooed head, and the dark circles underneath my eyes were all evidence that I had something to hide. I resigned myself to keeping silent about it, until the matter came up. I had to find Ben and the others first, then worry about the repercussions later. The hardest part would be avoiding Burnley. I didn’t want to see him again, if I had to look into those cold, heartless, seductive eyes one more time, I would die.

Quickly getting dressed, I walked over to the room where Selene had gone, and tapped on the door with my knuckles. “Selene. I am sorry. I didn't mean to sound so harsh. Everything that happened wasn't your fault, we all make mistakes. You wanted your son back and did what any other mother would do in your position; you had no way of knowing what was going to happen. Please forgive me for being so blunt and forward with you, that was a terrible way of showing my gratitude, you saved my life. Can you please open the door so that I can talk to you?” I waited, but there was no sound from inside. I tapped on the door again. “Selene?” Nothing, still no answer. A chill went down my spine. Could there have been another exit on the other side of the room and she took off? I grabbed the handle and pushed the door open quickly. Selene was on the other side, standing in front of a cabinet full of medical supplies, and was shoving them into her bag as I barged in.

“You haven't left yet?” She asked, grabbing a handful of antibiotics. “You better leave soon before the base goes into lock down, or else you will be trapped in here. Don't say that I didn't warn you.”

I walked over and put my hand over the top of her bag, preventing her from stuffing anymore stolen supplies in it. “Selene, you said your son's name was Thomas. Is his last name Bell?”

“Yes.” she replied, pushing my hand out of the way.

I took a deep breath. “I know him. Let me tell you something about your son, Thomas. After he escaped the F.E.C. he formed the Messengers and brought people together that had rebelled against them, wanting a life free from slavery or imprisonment. They would do raids against the corporation and bring back more people, good people that just wanted a chance at a better life. He was the one that organized them and brought them all together, and after that, more people were able to break away, forming even more rebel bases scattered all over Prox. Thomas Bell has this dream of turning Prox into a beautiful, green planet where everyone could live without worrying about being taken away and fed to the Carnivores. Your son is responsible for uniting this world and making good things happen. I've only known him for a few short months, and god knows he's been through a lot, but I can tell that deep down inside, he's a good person; a son that you can be proud of. I know that you regret your actions, but that’s all in the past. We can change the future right here and now, don’t let what happened in the past make you a prisoner to it.”

Selene flipped the top of her bag closed and buckled it quickly giving it a yank. I could tell that she was getting anxious and ready to move. “What are you getting at Bates? I don’t have time for any of this.” She scowled.

“I want you to help us.” I answered, stepping in front of the door, blocking her path. She glared at me with her dark eyes. “We need someone like you with us; you have a lot of knowledge, inside information about the F.E.C., things that we can use to gain the upper hand on them, and you’re a good person. You saved my life out there, when you didn’t even know who I was. This world, or any word for that matter, needs caring, unselfish people like you.” I saw the expression on her face change, soften up a bit and she loosened the grip on her bag. “Selene, this is the chance that you always wanted, the chance to make things right. If you don't want to do it for yourself, then do it for Thomas. Show him that his dream of a new world is something worth fighting for. Make it come true. It’s not too late.”

“After the F.E.C. stole my research and my child, all I could think about was getting revenge on them. I’ve lived so many years with my life filled with hatred and anger. I forgot what it was like to stand outside on cloud filled day with my feet in the green grass and warm sun on my skin. I don’t want to give up the fight, but maybe it’s just time that I fought for something better.” She smiled at me and then nodded, as we walked out of the storage area and back into the infirmary. “Okay. I'll help you. Tell me what you need.”

“First we need to find out where Benjamin, Thomas and Brock are. I have a feeling that if—“ I stopped talking as a blinding pain shot through my body, centering over my heart and I bent over, trying to catch my breath. In my mind’s eye, I got a flash of Burnley swirling his fingers across my chest, those twisted, wicked lips laughing at me.

Selene came to my side and put her arm across my back, trying to steady me. “Dustin, breathe. It’s the last traces of the drug leaving your system. It will pass.” Guiding me back over to the bed, she helped me sit down and knelt down in front of me, holding onto my hand until the moment passed.

“That’s one hell of a withdrawal symptom.” I murmured through clenched teeth.

Satisfied that I was going to be alright, Selene rose to her feet and walked over to the door. “Now you understand Burnley a little better hmm?”

I gave her a confused look. “What do you mean?”

Tilting her head to the side, Selene listened at the door as she spoke. “He’s addicted to the stuff. I guess it started off with the F.E.C. using it on Burnley as a child. Those sick fuckers would give him tiny doses every single day, and watch to see what would happen. Little did they know that their experiment would produce a heartless monster.” She lifted her head from the door for a moment. “Do you know that he slaughtered every single one of the people who raised him here on Prox?” I looked at her in disbelief and she continued. “Oh yes, and they weren’t just murdered, he downright defiled their corpses and then consumed their flesh, the sick fuck.” Selene shuttered. “The problem with the drug is that it’s highly volatile and incredibly unstable; producing completely random effects on people. Some say that once it’s injected, somehow the chemicals bond to your body, and produce hallucinations, others say that it gives incredible strength, mental prowess and superiority. And then there are still others who believe that it only drives the person insane. It’s all very situational. There’s been little data on it, because Burnley's done away with everyone who he’s injected it with, except you. You should feel privileged.”

Thinking about her words for a moment, I thought back to the amber color that floated in Burnley’s eyes; clear evidence that what she was saying was the truth. “Wait… Selene you said that it causes severe mental problems?” I asked, curious. I was already starting to put together the pieces of the puzzle.

“Yes, but like I said, its theory only. All the research data has been destroyed.”

“What if Burnley’s vicious nature isn’t because of the F.E.C.’s influence? What if it’s the drug making him do these things, if we can somehow intervene...”

Frowning, she shot me a disapproving glance. “No Bates. End those thoughts right now.” She reached out and grabbed my wrist and flipped it over, revealing the long, painful lacerations that lined the inside of my arm. “Look at what he did to you. He tore into you like you were nothing, without a thought. You can’t even sit comfortably or walk right now because he RAPED you! Do you need me to keep reminding you of that?” Dropping my arm back down, she shook her head at me. “He’s an animal, and I won’t entertain any thoughts of ‘saving him’ either. Think about it, he did this to you, and if he catches Benjamin, he’s going to do the exact same thing, maybe even something worse. Is this the kind of person that you really want to take a chance on.” 

I clasped my hands together anxiously. The more she was telling me about Burnley, the more I became afraid of him. I was firmly convinced that there was nothing left inside of him where that innocent child had once been and it broke my heart. I wanted to find Benjamin and get him out of the base as quickly as possible now, before he ran into Burnley. Ben was a very strong man, but I didn’t know what condition he would be in when we would find him, and I feared that Burnley would somehow take advantage of Ben’s good nature and use it against him. One single moment of compassion on Ben’s part could mean death. I needed to find him and now. I glanced over to Selene who was still standing at the door, silent and motionless. I gave her a confused look. “What’s going on?” Immediately, she put her finger to her lips and motioned for me to move into position behind her.

I saw her hand slip down to her thigh, and pull out her weapon. Moving her finger across the power button, I could hear it start to charge up and arm itself as she held it up, readying it for use. “There’s someone out there.” She whispered. “We need to get the jump on him before he finds us.”

My heart started to race. He had found me. I took a few steps back away from the door, I didn’t know what to do; I didn’t know if I could count on Selene for protection. Grabbing my arm, she suddenly pushed me back into the shadows of the corner and gave me a stern look, her eyes serious. “Stay back here. I am going to lure him out.” Reaching down, she started to fidget with her wrist and pulled off a small electronic device which was similar to the one that Brock wore and shoved it into my hand. “This is programmed with most of the door lock codes in this base. As long as the F.EC. servers are up, it should work. There is also a tracking program installed on it. I placed a receiver in Thomas’s pocket; it will lead you to him. Find your friends and follow the corridors to the Eastern sector. There is a transport vehicle parked out of the service entrance there. Use it and get out.”

Pushing her hand away, I shook my head. “Selene I am not going anywhere without you, take this back and let’s get out together.”

“Don’t be so stupid Dustin. You know what he’s capable of. Do you want what happened to you to happen to your friends? Believe me; if he finds you again, he’s not going to be so gentle this time. I have a chance to slow him down and I am going to take it.”

Throwing down her backpack, she entered the code to open the door as I retreated back into my hiding position. Off in the distance, I could hear the sound of feet stomping down the hallway, coming closer and closer. Selene tensed up, her finger slipping down over the trigger and taking a breath. She had to wait until the perfect moment for the element of surprise. Boom boom boom… the steps came nearer to us, the tension was so thick in the room, I could taste it. My heart was pounding in my chest, almost drowning out the sounds of the footsteps.

Everything happened at once. From my vantage point, I could see his shadow come into view at the same exact time that Selene stepped out from her hiding place. Standing with her legs spread for stability, her arm went up as she faced the monster face to face. He was running rapidly down the hall toward her, and as her finger pulled the trigger back, the weapon discharged a bolt of high powered electricity right into its intended target. I heard the body drop down to the floor and was on my feet immediately. Before I made it out to the hall, I heard the screams and saw a look of abject horror on Selene’s face. Brushing past her, I looked down to the body crumpled up in front of her, the black robes concealing the ever growing pool of dark red blood that was spilling out from underneath it. I followed Selene’s gaze down to the end of the hall, as Brock and Thomas came running into view.

Thomas dropped to his knees, sliding over the floor and grabbed the body, ripping off the dark cowl that was wrapped around its face. This wasn’t Burnley. It wasn’t a Carnivore. I was staring at Lizzie. “What have you done?” Thomas screamed at Selene. “What have you done?” Cradling Lizzie in his arms, he held her close to his chest, tapping lightly on her cheek, trying to revive her.

Selene pointed at Lizzie with her gun, which was still smoking from the violent burst of energy it had expelled into her body. “She was dressed like a Carnivore and came running right at me! I don’t know this woman.” She shouted. Brock immediately came over and tried to take the gun away from Selene. As he reached for it, she pulled her arm back and pushed him hard, almost making him fall backwards. She pointed the weapon at him. “Do that again boy and you will be joining her on the floor.”

“Brock don’t!” I shouted and stepped out from behind Selene.

As I moved towards him, he looked at me in shock. “Dustin?” Then to my surprise, he pulled me into a tight embrace. I wrapped my arms around his thin body and held onto him; the bruises and broken ribs deep beneath my skin all cried out at once, sending a wave of pain down my spine. I felt like I was going to pass out. I clutched at his jacket, gripping at the soft material and holding onto full handfuls of it as tightly as I could. I didn’t want him to ever leave my side again.

Lizzie began to cough; blood formed on her lips and trickled down over her chin. Sitting down on the floor next to her, Thomas suddenly shouted. “She’s still alive! Someone help her! Please!”

Selene dropped down and grabbed hold of Lizzie’s robes, yanking them open and exposing her mid-section. Thomas immediately looked away, repulsed by the sight of so much blood. Pushing sections of the fabric away, Selene found the wound and grabbed Thomas’s hands, placing them down firmly on Lizzie’s stomach and giving him a serious look. “If you want her to live, you keep your hands right there and don’t move them until I tell you do. Understand?” His eyes wide with fright, Thomas nodded to her and then Selene sprang to her feet, running back into the room. The sound of the cabinets opening and items being tossed out of them soon followed as she rummaged through them.

I looked to Brock, the usual playful, carefree expression on his face now gone, replaced by one of horror and shock. He looked like he had aged 10 years in a matter of hours. Glancing over at me, he caught me looking at him and opened his mouth to say something but then stopped as Selene returned with a handful of absorbent gauze pads. Placing them over Thomas’s hands, she gave him the instruction to carefully pull his hands out and then shoved the pads in. There was a lot of blood, however, it was under control. Speaking quietly, Selene looked around at each of us. “I need to get her inside to see if there is any internal bleeding.” Thomas was immediately at her side, scooping up Lizzie’s unconscious body in his arms and lifting her up like she was made of air, taking her back into the room. Selene, Brock and I all followed behind, like mourners at our own funeral.

“Put her on the bed and go into the next room, please. I need to examine her.” Thomas gently laid her down on the bed where I had been only moments earlier. Brock and I headed toward the storage area that Selene had looted earlier, but Thomas remained behind. Starting to remove Lizzie’s clothing, Selene shot him a angry look. “You too, go with them.”

“No. I want to stay with her.” I looked around Brock’s shoulder to Thomas. There was something in his voice, a tone that I never heard before that piqued my curiosity. He stood before Selene, looking down at Lizzie, his face lined with worry. “I want to help.” He said.

Pulling over the IV stand, Selene frowned at him. “I don’t need any help, Thomas.” Wheeling the pole around him, she started to uncurl a new set of plastic tubing to set up the drip and he reached out to take it from her. “Are you fucking serious? I told you to get out of here. I can do this on my own. Every minute you stand there is one more minute that could be ticking away from her life.” She yanked the tubes away from him. “Now I suggest you go join your friends before I have to lay you flat out on the floor next to her with my fist.”

Still standing firmly, Thomas refused to budge. Brock walked over and put his hand on Thomas’s shoulder, pulling him back with a light tug. “Come on, Thomas. Let her work. I am sure she will fill us in on the details as soon as she can, right Selene?” he asked.

Pulling the layers of sticky gauze aside, Selene was already fast at work assessing the wound. She waved one of her hands to them. “Yeah, yeah, whatever.” A fresh bubble of warm blood seeped to the top of Lizzie’s stomach and she let out a unconscious moan. All the color flushed from Thomas’s face and he took Brock’s cue to exit the room. I stood aside as he walked by me, remaining at the door connecting the two rooms for a few seconds, looking down at the helpless girl laying on the blood drenched bed. I thought about Prox, and the people that still lived on the planet, being slowly assimilated by the F.E.C. day after day and said a silent prayer for them, then closed the door.

Inside, Brock dropped his bag in the center of the room, and paced around the room for a few seconds before jumping up onto a cabinet and sitting on it, letting his long legs dangle off of it. He looked worried, but calm, unlike Thomas who started slamming cabinet doors, leaving bloody hand prints all over them. I wish that he wasn’t in the same room with us, his demeanor and attitude gave off a sense of tension that wouldn’t go away. No one spoke at first; everyone was lost in their own thoughts. I walked across the room to stand in front of the cabinet which Brock was sitting on, I leaned my back on it and crossed my arms in front of my chest, it wasn’t long before I felt Brock’s fingertips brushing through what was left of my shaved hair. “This is a new look for you, I am not sure I’m liking it.” He laughed.

The light touch of his fingers was like fire on my scalp. With everything that was going on around me, I had almost forgotten how wonderful he was to be near him. Part of me even felt guilty in a way, having been so consumed with dealing with Burnley and Benjamin, I hadn’t had time to think about the last few moments that Brock and I spent together. Even though we were at each others throats, none of that mattered now; just seeing his face and that smile was more than enough to fill my heart with happiness and renew my faith. I turned and slightly looked over my shoulder at him, my god… he was so beautiful. I had to force myself to not pull him right off the cabinet and kiss him. I knew that he could tell something bad had happened to me, but his way of dealing with it was with humor, I decided that the best solution would be just to play along. “I might be having a bad hair day, Brock but I see that you’ve got quite a sizable goose egg there on your forehead, if it gets any bigger you might have created a new moon here on Prox.”

Brock reached up and gingerly touched the spot on his head. “Oh this? Yeah, a gift from Lizzie in there. Cracked me right across the face with my own laptop. She was trying to get me to absorb knowledge through osmosis I guess.” He laughed.

“Can you two fucking shut up?” Thomas suddenly interrupted. He turned around and glared at both Brock and I. “Lizzie is out there fighting for her life and all you are doing is laughing!”

Jumping down from the counter, Brock walked around me to face Thomas and gave him a apologetic glance. “I am sorry Thomas, it’s my fault. Hey—can you give me and Dustin a few moments here, I need to fill him in on everything that’s been going on. I promise, we won’t be a bother.”

Glaring at me, Thomas nodded to him. “Do whatever you want, I don’t care.” He said flatly, turning his back to us.

Brock grabbed hold of my arm and took me around the corner to a separate part of the storage room. “We need to talk.” For the next several minutes, I listened intently as Brock filled me in on what happened with Thomas and Lizzie. I was completely overjoyed with the fact that she was alive, but it was bittersweet to say the least. My heart went out to the both of them. I never had much love for Thomas, since his little breakdown in front of me in the Shallow Bay, but I could see that he was trying to make an effort now to make things right. I still couldn’t bring myself to trust him completely, but he seemed genuinely concerned about Lizzie. Perhaps she was exactly what he needed to bring him around. She had sworn with her dying breath that she would love him forever, and she truly meant it. Even with my dislike for Thomas, I wanted them to be together. I didn’t know why, but I had a feeling that I was starting to witness something between the two of them that would change much more than just each of their individual lives, they were part of something bigger. After he finished his story, Brock paused and looked at me, lowering his voice even further. “Dustin, we found Benjamin.”

I thought my heart would instantly burst. “What? Where is he? Is he okay?”

Leaning up against the wall, Brock let out a long sigh. “When we found him, he was near death. Thomas had the idea to use one of Selene’s visors on him, modified of course for only healing properties. He was sick and blind, we had no other choice.” My eyes instantly widened, and Brock started speaking again before I could say anything. “I’ve never seen anything like it; these devices, when used properly are really a miracle, Dustin. Benjamin was so close to death, we knew that when we found him, he potentially only had a few minutes left, and so we did what we had to, and it worked. It brought him back from the brink of death and cured his blindness. Benjamin was back.”

I knew that he wasn’t telling me the entire story. “But he’s not here now, what are you leaving out, Brock?” 

Looking away from me for a moment, I could easily see that he was struggling with telling me something. I was too exhausted and sore to push him any further. Whatever he told me, I knew that I had to accept, whether it was the whole truth or just part of it. I try to mentally prepare myself for his answer. “There was a small glitch in the programming, and some of Ben’s past memories had been lost.” Brock said quietly.

“What memories?” I asked, not really wanting to know.

Brock paused before answering. “Mostly ones that he had from back home. We’re not completely sure because he became confused and we were distracted with Lizzie, and he just left.” Brock looked down to the floor, avoiding my gaze. He seemed to be incredibly nervous and upset now, which was odd for him; Brock was always so open and honest. “We haven’t seen Ben since. Thomas has been worried that he will run into Burnley while looking for a way out. He doesn’t know yet that Burnley is his son. If or when he does, we don’t know how he’s going to take it.”

At the sound of Burnley’s name, my hands started to shake, and I had to reach out and hold onto the edge of the storage cabinet for support. They knew who Burnley was, and I started to panic. I had to keep the truth of what happened to me to myself. I didn’t want them to know, it would only make things worse between us. My fingers turned white as I forced air back into my lungs, trying to calm myself as Brock took a step forward and held onto my hands, his touch was like fire on my cold skin. I wanted to wrap myself around him and become engulfed in that warmth, burning away all of my shame. “Dustin, what’s wrong, you’re trembling.” I didn’t answer him, for a moment, every single one of my words slipped away. “You saw Burnley, didn't you? Oh Christ, Dustin… what did he do to you?”

“He…” I started to speak and then stopped. I lifted my head slightly and saw Thomas standing a few feet away, listening. I wanted him to go away so I could be alone with Brock.

Brock let go of my hands and looked over to him. “What is it Thomas?” he asked, with a very annoyed tone in his voice.

“Selene is ready for us.” He answered. Not waiting for a reply, he turned around and walked out. I could hear the door slide shut behind him and then moved to follow him out when Brock reached forward and put his arm out in front of my chest, preventing me from moving forward. I looked at him curiously.

“It was more than just a beating, wasn’t it?” he asked, all the color fading away from his face. He looked positively mortified. I wanted to lie to him to spare him from the truth. He didn’t really need to know what happened, it didn’t concern him. What happened in that room was between the two of us, Burnley and I. I couldn’t bring myself to talk about it, at least not yet. There was also a lingering thought in the back of my head that suddenly poked through… Burnley’s words telling me that Brock knew of his existence and presence in the F.E.C. and did nothing about it. Could Brock and Burnley possibly be working together? I always trusted Brock. I was silent for too long. Brock took his arm that was across my chest and applied pressure, pushing me back against the wall. I immediately began to freak out. “This isn’t a time for hiding shit, Dustin. Anyone can see how badly you are injured and you’re acting all skittish, something’s clearly not right. You are going to tell me exactly what happened to you with Burnley before we go back out there! Tell me what he did to you.”

I glared at him. “Get your hands off of me, Brock.”

Looking into his eyes, I was surprised to see defiance and anger there. Brock was young, but he knew how to handle himself and control his emotions much better than most others did, except for this moment when his eyes betrayed him. He wasn’t a hard person to read at all. I knew what he wanted, and that was acknowledgment from me of Burnley’s crimes so that he could have yet another reason for protecting and defending me. He wanted to be my avenging angel, my knight. I couldn’t give it to him though. I refused to say the words that would give him permission to get himself killed. He wouldn’t act without it, so I chose to remain quiet. Several tense moments passed and then he did as I asked. Removing his hand from me and with a sigh if discontentment, he moved forward toward the entrance. Brock challenged me and then backed down. This was the Brock that I knew from before, the man who would easily put his own life on hold for me. He cared more about others than himself; he wasn’t as assertive and dominant as I had thought. I reached out and pulled the door open as he called to me. “I know you. I know your voice when it speaks a lie, I know your face when you try to hide your fears, I know you well and I’ve seen your tears. Please don’t hide them from me. Don’t turn me away Dustin, not now.”

My hand moved to the locking bolt over the door; all I had to do was push it to lock it. I could seal us away from the entire world and be alone in there with him. The hurt, the pain, the guilt would easily come spilling out as I slipped into his arms and he held me tightly. The choice had been made for me, I would never be able to feel this way towards Ben, not ever again, Burnley saw to that. But… Brock.. he could be my world, he could be my stars, and my universe. Brock could fix me and make me whole once again; all I had to do was stay there in that room. The world would fall down around us and I wouldn’t care.

I opened the door and walked out.

Selene was wiping the blood off her hands and glanced up at me as I exited the storage room, with Brock in tow behind me, sulking silently. She tossed the towel aside and gave me a worried look. “Feeling okay Bates?” she asked. “You lost some of the color from your skin.”

I heard Brock mumble something from behind, and push his way past me; his elbow collided with my side and a bolt of pain went shooting down my spine, nearly knocking me over. Giving me a clearly annoyed glance, he moved to stand near the cot where Lizzie was laying. “I am fine, how is she?” I asked pointing to her.

“She’s one lucky human, that’s for sure.” Selene chuckled. “The bolt of electricity went right through her, missing any vital organs and doing minimal damage. Thankfully, there is no internal bleeding, and all I had to do was stitch her up. She should be waking up soon.”

“What about the Rampancy caused by the Carnivore conversion process?” Brock asked. “She had two fits of it in a short period of time after Thomas managed to get her offline. We need to be sure that it’s not going to happen again, or if it does, the frequency so we can prepare for it.”

Pulling her hair up away from her face, Selene adjusted her silver moon hairpin and frowned. “That’s not something I can help you with. It can happen again at any moment or maybe not ever again. There is no way of knowing. The shock of the trauma may have jolted it out of her completely, or it may still be in there, lying dormant. I am convinced though that over time, if it still does exist within her, it will eventually fade especially if you get her as far away from the F.E.C. as you can. She can have a full life again; it’s just a matter of being patient and taking care of her. She needs time to heal both mentally and physically. I suggest that you all come up with a plan for getting out of here as soon as you can. If not for your own hides, then for her.”

“It’s not going to be that easy, we still have a friend here that we need to go look for.” Brock said, moving his gaze directly over to me.

Selene laughed and reached for her coat, slipping it over her shoulders. “Good luck with that. I don’t know what the hell is going on out there, with the Eden project, all the Carnivores disappearing, and Burnley on the loose, but it’s going to be nearly impossible to find one single person in a facility this size. You’d probably be best cutting your losses and just leaving.”

“We’re not going anywhere without him.” I said.

At that moment, Lizzie stirred; slowly opening her eyes and Thomas came over to sit on the edge of the bed, reaching out for her hand. Feeling his fingers touch hers, she slowly fluttered her eyelids open and looked to him. For the first time on Prox, I realized that I was looking at a completely pure and innocent soul. There was no hatred, remorse or malicious intent in those sweet eyes, only complete trust and devotion, and much to my surprise I could see it in Thomas’s eyes as well. Something had happened to him, he was changing into a much different person than the selfish one I had met back in the Shallow Bay. “Thomas? What happened?” she asked, looking around to see herself surrounded by an entire group of people.

“There was an accident, Selene shot you with a laser rifle, but you’re okay and we’re going to get you out of here.” Thomas explained. He reached forward and ran his fingers through her hair. There was a look of utter happiness in her face when he touched her, even though the pain of a fresh wound and stitches was almost too much, he made her face light up with life. “I am going to take care of you, from now on, I promise, Lizzie.”

“Why?” She asked, with a curious tone in her voice. “I am… Nobody special.”

I could see pride in Thomas for the first time. He straightened up his back and presented himself to her, proud and inspired. “That’s where you are wrong, Lizzie. You ARE somebody special, you are special to me. I am sorry I didn’t see it sooner; I put you through so much suffering because of my inability to just trust in what I was feeling. I adore everything about you; you are the part of me that has been missing for so long.”

Lizzie blushed and reached up to touch Thomas’s cheek. It was a tender, heartfelt moment that almost brought tears to my eyes. After all that had happened, they had finally made a connection, two, young, innocent souls reaching out to one another. I saw Thomas take her hand and bring it to his lips, giving her a delicate kiss on her knuckles and then he stood up, taking a step away from her. He looked up to Brock who was standing behind the bed. “Brock, can you please help her?”

“Huh?” Brock looked at Thomas quizzically for a moment and then realized what Thomas was asking. “Oh! Yeah sure. Here Lizzie scoot forward a bit, will you?” he asked. Slipping in behind a confused Lizzie, Brock gently placed his hands around her back, helping her into a upright, sitting position with minimum discomfort, her bare feet dangling off the side of the bed. Carefully, he draped the sheet across her midsection, concealing the spots of blood from the impromptu surgery Selene had performed on her and kept an arm around her waist, supporting her as she sat up.

Looking down at her, his dark curls of hair falling in front of his face, Thomas took a breath. “I don’t want you to ever think that you are nobody special ever again, and I don’t want to lose you now that I’ve found you.” For a moment, the entire planet of Prox fell silent, and only the two of them existed. Lizzie continued to look up at him, completely baffled and curious. Thomas dropped down to one knee at the side of the bed and took hold of her hand again. “Lizzie, I am not very good at words, and the only thing I seem to come up with to steal your heart is quotes from a bed time story I remember as a child, and Brock tells me that I messed those up, but I want you to know that the ones I am about to say aren’t from a book, but from my heart, and you have to believe in them when I say them to you, okay?”

Lizzie looked around to Selene, the only other female in the room for an explanation of Thomas’s words, then me and finally Brock, not quite sure what was going on, but then seeing him squeeze her hand, he gave her a reassuring smile. It calmed and relaxed her. Brock was always known to have that effect on people; he was just an overall good soul. “I believe you Thomas. After all, you are my impossible thing, the one that I believe in.”

“Not impossible, Lizzie McCarthy. I love you as I have never loved another person in my life. I realized this because my world came apart when you were gone. I felt that I needed to belong to someone, first it was the Messengers that needed me, and then Benjamin, but all that really isn't what I wanted. I grew up where affection was frowned upon, forbidden, and yes even sometimes punished, but I was set free, I woke up and now I see everything so differently. I can say that I know what it really means to love someone, and not just be needed. Lizzie, you never asked for anything from me, never expected anything, but you deserve all that I have. I didn’t see this until I lost you. I can never ask forgiveness for what I did to you, I took your life away, but now that I have you back, I am never letting you go again. I love you, Lizzie.”

Smiling at him, Lizzie’s eyes welled up with tears. She was the first person that I remember upon waking up on Prox, and in the time since, she had shown me nothing but kindness and respect. At that moment, with Thomas down on one knee in front of her, her hands slightly trembling and her eyes filled with joy, somehow I found myself feeling very father-like and protective. I wanted to scoop her small body up in my arms and carry her away to safety.

Reaching into his pocket, Thomas brought forth a wedding band and presented it to her. My eyes widened and I inhaled, bringing my hand to my mouth from letting out a startled cry. It was Benjamin’s wedding ring, I’d know it anywhere, I could see the faint outline of the initials on it. I felt sick and nauseous, the room started to spin again, there was an intense agony eating away in the pit of my stomach. I clutched onto Selene’s shoulder for support. She turned slightly to look at me, not saying a word. “Will you marry me?” Thomas asked. There was not a single sound in the room.

The vomit was rising in my throat and I found myself leaning over. Before I could hear Lizzie’s answer, Selene grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the room, and back into the storage area only moments before my stomach released its contents into a cleaning bucket on the floor. Sitting on my knees, I retched, tears filling my eyes and my knuckles clenched white. I could feel Selene’s hand on my back rubbing it; the wisps of her long black coat brushed against me as she knelt down next to me. “Let it go, Bates. It will pass.” Taking a long, deep breath, I sat up, looking at her through red rimmed puffy eyes. “I need to get out of here. I have to find Benjamin.” I said. I don’t know why I was so adamant about finding him right at that moment, but I just knew I had to.

“Something tells me that your sickness just now was more than just the drug wearing off.” Selene rested her back against the wall, not even really caring that I was vomiting right next to her. “Want to spill your guts a little more than you are already doing and tell me what’s going on?” She asked.

Using the back of my hand, I wiped the saliva off the corner of my mouth and sat up. I didn’t want to go into any details about the ring with her, it felt wrong to sit there and accuse her son of stealing it when he had just made Lizzie the happiest girl on Prox. It was just a trinket, after all. Resting my head against the back of the wall, I closed my eyes for a moment. “Everything is falling apart. I need to get out of here before I lose my mind. We’re all together now, except for Benjamin—logic says we should just leave, but I can’t… I can’t leave him here, alone… not again. I can’t turn my back on him and walk away, but the others… they are in danger, they don’t deserve to be put through this… I am risking each of their lives and for what….”

Selene reached forward and took my chin in her hand, holding my head up. “Love.” Her dark eyes pierced right into my soul as she spoke. “You are doing all this because you love him. Deep inside, you know that you can’t turn away because your feelings are too strong.” She smiled a wistful smile at me. “Those people out there, they are all your friends and they are here because they wanted to be. Don’t be ashamed of it, Dustin. It’s a noble thing. I wish I had what you have inside of you 20 years ago. If I did, then maybe I would have never walked away without my child.” She stood up and offered her hand to me. “One question for you, if Benjamin is returned to you, will you be able to deal with whatever emotional baggage comes back with him?”

I thought about her question. She knew what Burnley had done to me, but there was no way she could have possibly known the things that he said, or the guilt he was making me suffer through. She was right though, with Benjamin back, there would be so much to deal with. How could I ever look him in the eyes knowing what I had done? I decided to just play along, I didn’t feel like dealing with any of it yet, not after the bombshell Thomas had just dropped. I would keep my guilt and shame inside for as long as I could. No one needed to know about my sins. “What could he possibly---“

She held up a finger. “Stop. Just answer the question. Do you think that you are capable of standing on your feet, looking past all that has happened, all that WILL happen to get Benjamin and all of the others out of here? Can you fight past the doubt and fear to bring the ones that you love to safety?” Selene asked. “It’s not going to be easy, and you have to be prepared to lose things, things that you care deeply about. If you can assure me that you are capable of this, then I can help you. I am not willing to risk my life for something that is going to crumble and fall apart the moment it all comes together. Assure me that I can count on you to keep it together and save them. I can’t make this sacrifice on my own, I need you.”

“Yes.” I nodded. I knew what she was asking. Since Burnley had assaulted me, I was slowly falling apart, unraveling from the inside out. He knew exactly what he was doing and was a master of manipulation. Even though I wasn’t his physical prisoner, mentally I was still trapped inside a cage. Selene was basically telling me that if I didn’t rise above this, I would drag myself and the others down with me, and then no one would make it out alive. The F.E.C. and their dog Burnley would win. I took a long breath and filled my lungs with oxygen. “I got this, Selene. One way or another, I will get them all out. Lizzie, Thomas, Brock… and Benjamin. Everyone is going home.”

My answer seemed to please her. “Okay. Give me 30 minutes. I will see if I can locate him.” Selene said, slowly rising to her feet.

“What?” I asked, wiping away the beads of sweat on my forehead.

She started to pull on her gloves and wrap her scarf around her face. “There may be a way to locate him, but I need to go find the central servers. While I am gone, you get your people up and ready to go, make sure Lizzie is properly bandaged up. There should be wheelchairs around here someplace, find one, if you don’t then have Thomas carry her. I will find Benjamin and bring him back here. No arguing, just be ready.”

I stared at her. “You can’t be serious, going out there alone is madness.!”

“Watch me.” Pulling the door open, she dipped into her pocket and tossed Brock a small, translucent microchip. “Insert that into your wrist Comm device. It will allow you limited access to the door key codes and communication with me. Bates will fill you all in on the rest. Stay here.” Pushing past all of them, she headed for the door, and Thomas rose to his feet, moving to stand in front of her, blocking her access to the hall. 

“What do you think you are doing?” He asked. “It’s not safe out there alone. We need to stick together. If Burnley finds you, he’s going to kill you. Stay here, we will come up with a plan to get everyone out at the same time, there’s no need for heroics.”

Selene shot him an angry look. “I’ve had enough! It’s all my fault he’s here! That kid has done enough damage to good people. I’ve sat back and watched the atrocities he’s committed for far too long now. He kills without guilt or remorse, he experiments on people just for his own amusement, he tortures people, ignoring their pleas for mercy. Look what he’s done to your friend, Dustin.” I stepped forward, holding onto the wall for support and shook my head, my eyes wide with fear. I didn’t want her to say another word, she had to stop, please someone make her stop. Don’t say it. Pointing to me, she yelled at Thomas. “Fucking Burnley RAPED him! That sick fuck sliced him up with a scalpel, injected him with the Eden drug, beat him, and then violently raped him. I found him lying out there in the hallway, beaten half to death, in a pool of his own blood smelling like that bastard, and all this happened because I brought Burnley here.” Taking a breath, she looked at Lizzie who was still sitting on the bed, wide eyed and frightened. “Seeing the two of you like this breaks my heart. You have a chance at happiness. I abandoned you once before, Thomas. I won’t do it again. I am your mother, it’s my job to protect you and that is exactly what I am going to do.” Selene stepped away from her son and out into the hallway. “I will contact you as soon as I locate Benjamin, just be ready to move.” In a whirl of black fabric, she was gone.

Brock slid out from behind Lizzie and came over to my side, his soft brown eyes falling over me. “Dustin…” I could tell that he wanted to reach out and touch me, but was too afraid to attempt it. I moved past him, ignoring him, stumbling across the room to sit on the corner of the bed where Lizzie was. I wasn’t feeling well again. They were all staring at me. I couldn’t take it. Not saying a word, she stretched out her hand and placed it over mine. I could see the bright metal gleam of the wedding ring on her finger. She accepted Thomas’s proposal. I swallowed my words; seeing that trinket hurt, knowing that it was given to me for safe keeping and I had tossed it away. Why Thomas had it, I did not know, but I knew that I would not ever be able to give it back to Ben now. I had failed him once again, another promise broken.

“What about Benjamin?” I whispered.

“Selene told us to stay here and wait.” Thomas said coldly. “That’s exactly what we should be doing, she knows this place better than any of us, and I don’t think that you are in any shape to go anywhere. We wait.”

I shook my head. “That’s not what I am talking about, Thomas.” Feeling a little strength returning to me, I slowly rose to my feet. “Benjamin loves you, and now when he’s at his weakest you are just going to throw this in his face? Is that why he left the cell block confused? Because he realized that you told Lizzie that you loved her, right in front of him? There wasn’t a better way to do it? That’s pretty damn low, even for you. Have you no respect?” Thomas and Brock exchanged glances and I knew that they were harboring some concealed bit of information. I was sick and tired of all this deception. “What the hell is going on?”

Brock spoke up before Thomas could even say anything. “I told you earlier, that there had been a glitch in the visor when we used it to save Benjamin.” He took a long breath. “That wasn’t exactly true. It wasn’t a glitch. It was reprogrammed to heal his body, and to eliminate specific memories.”

I was starting to feel slightly ill again, but I pushed the feeling away. I no longer had time for feeling sorry for myself. “You told me it was memories of the past Brock; you left something out, didn’t you?” I asked bluntly. “Omitting facts is the same as lying, just fucking tell me.” Once again, I was starting to doubt him, my best friend for so many years.

“Memories pertaining to you, Dustin.” Brock answered. “The visor restored his vision and healed his body, but at the same time, the coding allowed all memories of you and your existence to be completely deleted and wiped clean. To Benjamin, you never existed.” He came back over to stand next to me, undaunted by my attempts at pushing him away. “Not only the memories here on Prox, but the ones from Earth with the band and touring, they are all gone as well. To him, you are just a stranger. The closest person in his life right now would be Thomas.”

Bringing a hand up to my head, I closed my eyes for a moment. My head was starting to split. “I don’t understand, how would Benjamin even give you permission to use the visor on him, after what it had done to him before, it blinded him for Christ sake! I can’t even imagine him giving you permission to use it again, even if he was dying.” I looked to each of them suspiciously. “Who altered the coding on it? Don’t fucking lie to me, either of you! I want the truth.”

Once again, it was Brock who spoke up, his voice breaking with shame. “I put the visor on him. I forced it on him when he was weakened, because I knew he would never let us use it. We needed him, Dustin. I did what I had to, to get him back on his feet.” He looked directly at me, his eyes searching mine for some sort of acceptance. “I know how much he means to you Dustin, and if I had to go back in time and do it all over again, I would. Sometimes you have to put the needs of others above your own, because if you don’t, then what is life worth living for?”

I took a deep breath. “And the coding? Who altered it to erase his memories of me?”

Brock looked away from me. My heart sank. Betrayal was not the word for what I was feeling, it was something deeper, more intense than that. I couldn’t believe that Brock could lower himself to do such things, it wasn’t in his nature. I silently wondered if it was Prox that was changing us, or if we were changing on our own, becoming something that we most feared.

“I did.” Thomas said. My head shot up and I glared at him. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I had lost Benjamin to Thomas? It was a ridiculous notion. “Don’t think that I did it because I wanted to take him away from you for one moment, Dustin. I did it because the Messengers needed their leader back. I was never good enough to do the job on my own, it was always Benjamin who took control and led them. I was afraid that with you back, he might forget about all of us and leave. We need him, he’s an excellent leader, and all the people love him and would follow his orders without question. If he forgot about you, he would stay at my side and we could bring down the F.E.C. together. I didn’t do it to be greedy, or because I wanted him to love me, I did it because Prox needed him.”

I looked away from him. “Don’t feed me that bullshit about Prox. From the moment that you came into my room and told me that you wanted him back, you made it your number one priority. Come to think of it, it was pretty convenient that we got ambushed out there in the canyon and both Brock and I got taken prisoner but you didn’t. It all makes sense now… you told them what our location would be so that they could ambush us and take us prisoner while you escaped. That way you could infiltrate the F.E.C. to rescue Benjamin alone and leave us there to rot. You were after Benjamin all along, until you saw Lizzie again and felt bad for murdering her in cold blood.” I glanced over to Lizzie, who had taken hold of Thomas’s hand and was clutching tightly at it. “How pathetic is it that you can’t choose which one to love? You’re shameful, Thomas!”

I heard Brock say something under his breath and turn away, moving back into the corner of the room where he then stood in silence.

Thomas came to stand in front of me. “Dustin, you need to seriously calm down here. That’s not what happened. I never betrayed you, or Brock! After I recovered from using the visor, I admit that I was confused, and I said some things to you that made you not trust me anymore, but I am trying so hard to be a better person now. I still love Benjamin, but he never has been completely mine. I wish I could explain it better to you, but I can’t. I need to be with Lizzie, she needs me. Please give me this second chance.” His eyes softened and he tried his best to keep his voice steady. “Benjamin is yours, he always has been yours. You can see it every time you look in his eyes. He needs you now more than ever. I was wrong for wiping out his memories, I get that. It was a stupid idea and I never should have done it, but now this is a chance for you two to start all over again. Think of that moment when Selene reports in and we go find him; and he looks at you for the first time in his life…you will want to run right into those arms and MAKE him remember you.”

My hands were trembling. I closed my eyes for a moment and heard Burnley’s voice in my head. “He will look at you with those eyes, but all you will see are mine… he will touch you with those hands, but all you will feel are mine… You will never have a life with him again, because it belongs to me. I will be the fire that dries the flood. ”

Without even thinking, I balled my hand up into a fist and collided it with Thomas’s jaw in an unexpected rage of emotion. “MOTHERFUCKER!” There was a sickening thud and he hit the ground, like he had done back in the Shallow Bay. I screamed at him. “HE TRUSTED YOU, YOU SON OF A BITCH!” Pulling my leg back, I brought my foot into his stomach, kicking him with full force, enjoying the pitch of his body as each movement brought him flopping up and down off the floor like a fish out of water. “YOU PLAYED GOD WITH HIS LIFE! HOW DARE YOU!” He didn’t fight back or defend himself, but took the beating with a quiet pride. “I FUCKING HATE YOU, AND I HATE THIS PLACE.” The rage was building inside of me, making me temporarily forget the soreness and pain in my body. All I wanted to do was kick, punch, and hurt him as much as I could. “STAND UP AND FIGHT ME ASSHOLE, JUST TRY TO FUCK WITH ME, AND I WILL SHOW YOU WHAT IT’S LIKE TO FEEL PAIN!” I stepped over him and grabbed a handful of his hair, pulling his dark curls in between my fingers and yanked his head backwards painfully, straining his neck. He let out a startled cry and I slammed his head back down onto the floor before he could try to move away from me. Hearing the sound that his head made when it hit the concrete sent a cold chill down my spine, it was a sound that I heard before.

“Holy shit, Dustin stop! What the fuck are you doing?” I was dimly aware of Brock pulling me away, and Lizzie screaming. Being forced back away from Thomas crumpled body; I calmed down and shrugged Brock off of me, and then walked out into the hallway, in a huff. I had to get away from the scene before I beat him senseless. He had taken Benjamin away from me. Everything that we shared together, all those memories, just gone with the push of a button. I wanted to see him bleed. I wanted to hear him moan and beg me for mercy, although I would never be so kind as to grant it to him. Mercy was too kind for him. All I wanted was for him to pay for what he had done.

I waited patiently for Brock to come outside and challenge me, but the door remained closed. Nothing. He would surely want answers from me, I was prepared to give them to him, I would make Brock and everyone else understand the betrayal that I felt. Even if they didn’t see things my way, I’d made them see. The minutes ticked away as I started to calm down, and then what I had just done hit me. Oh my god… how did I let that happen? I looked down at my shaking hands, I had just given Thomas a severe beating because of… what… anger… rage… revenge… no… It was jealousy. Plain and simple, I was brought to the point of extreme violence because he had Ben and I didn’t. I didn’t want to punish him for what he had done in choosing Ben over Lizzie, I wanted him hurt because it felt good. Resting my back against the wall, I slowly slid down onto the floor and felt miserable. These were not my thoughts inside of my head. These were Burnley’s. What the hell had he done to me? I held my head down in my hands and wept.

Benjamin stood in the dark hallway, unmoving. “Who are you?” He called out into the darkness.

A sudden flash of light exposed Burnley standing at the end of the corridor for half a second, then as quick as the light turned on, it overloaded and shut off, plunging the corridor back in darkness, leaving nothing but his mocking voice echoing through the walls. “Who am I? I am a lesson born of greed, I am torn and twisted, I am a broken bone, I am what you made of me, the Lamb of God. Do you not know your own flesh and blood, dearest Father?”

Benjamin’s hand tightened around the grip of the gun he had been carrying, his finger slipping over the trigger as he felt a cold sweat begin to bead up on the back of his neck. “My son does not exist in this world…” he whispered. “You are a shadow, you are nothing.”

“Keep trying to convince yourself that, Benjamin. Maybe it’s better pretending that I don’t exist, because I am not here to save you, I am not your confessor, I am not a lie… but I am everything they said, and more, and I am here to make you answer for a lifetime of abandonment.” A light flickered on behind Burnley, illuminating his muscular form, still standing at the end of the hall; he snapped his wrist and flicked the blood off his sword, splattering it against the wall. “All these years of pain and suffering have finally come to this moment, when I get to confront the man who took the easy way out and left his wife and child to the wolves.”

“You… you can’t be my son. Benjamin was…”

Reaching up with his sword, Burnley tapped the overhead light with the tip, and it flickered on, filling the corridor with bright light for the first time. Benjamin gasped, seeing the young man’s face clearly. The resemblance was undeniable. It was like looking into a mirror. The child’s once baby fine, sandy colored locks of hair which fell down to his shoulders were all gone now, replaced by coal black wisps that shot out over his eyes. Shirtless, his torso was exposed, and there were smears of fresh blood running down his chest, mixing in with his own blood from the wound at his side. Tight, black leather belted pants wrapped tight around his legs, ending with imposing looking black combat boots which were covered in bits of bone and flesh. Ben’s eyes fixed on that of his son’s, and focused on the tiny flex of amber that swirled within. Benjamin shuddered; it was like looking into the cold, dead eyes of a serpent. “They took him away….” He whispered.

“No you weren’t there because you were nothing more than a corpse in a box, already rotting. You had drank yourself to death. Fucking greedy bastard.” Burnley said calmly.

“Benjamin, I was in pain. The disease…it was spreading, every morning I woke up and suffered. I had lived with it so long, it was always there. Some days were better than others, but the pain always remained. The drinking…the alcohol, it made me forget about it for a while. No one could help me. You have to understand that I was at the end of my rope. All the doctors failed me. I did what I had to do to keep myself sane. I never wanted to poison myself.” Benjamin shuddered, these were memories he wished he didn’t ever have to remember again.

“You can stop calling me Benjamin. That’s not my name. Benjamin is YOUR name. When they ripped me from her arms, when they poked my skin with needles and shoved tubes into my veins, they called me Burnley. When they punished me for crying myself to sleep at night, that's the name they shouted. That’s MY name, the name which will bear the legacy for being the one who completely destroyed Prox and every single living thing on it.” Pointing at the eviscerated corpses at his feet with the tip of his sword, he laughed and smiled at Benjamin. “These are nothing, just twisted, deformed, miserable excuses of life, they don’t count. It all begins and ends with you, Benjamin.” Burnley’s voice hung over the last syllable of Ben’s name, in a cold, mocking tone.

Ben's hand remained on the gun; steady, stable, unmoving. Even though he was being torn apart on the inside, conflicted, he refused to show any weakness to the man standing in front of him. He would show no fear; fear was always for the enemy. “You are not my son.” He said his tone serious and grim.

Gripping his sword, Burnley tilted his head to the side, in a mocking fashion and smiled at his father. “Still doubting are you? Well then that is going to make this all the more entertaining; seeing how long you can deny that fact. When you are slowly bleeding out, your wounds fatal and your brain sloshing around inside your skull, see if you can keep saying that I am not your son, because I am going to cut each and every portion of meat off your bones until you own up to your mistakes, Benjamin. When you are on your knees in front of me, will you call me your son then? What will it take for you to admit that I am your flesh and blood? There is only one way to find out.” In a dramatic gesture, Burnley raised his sword and smashed it into the overhead light, sending the hallway back into darkness. Ben raised his weapon and without thinking pulled the trigger, two, three, four times. The bright flash of the laser illuminated the corridor, just for a moment to see the shadowy figure darting closer and closer to him, moving in between the corpses that were sprawled across the floor with an uncanny and delicate speed. Burnley's voice rang out in the darkness. “For someone who has been blind for so many months, I dare say that your senses suck. Then again, I shouldn't expect much from you now should I? You always send others out to do your dirty work... Like Thomas Bell hmm? How much did you use and abuse him while at the Messengers, father? He was so much more than your second in charge; he was your... right hand man, or so to speak, wasn't he? Did he like it when you fucked him up against the wall? LIKE THIS?”

Suddenly Benjamin's body was thrown up against the wall in the darkness. The shock from his chest hitting the wall knocked the air out of his lungs, and he dropped the weapon that he was holding. It clattered to the floor, and he heard Burnley kick it away, as he put all his weight against Ben's back, holding him down on the bloodstained wall. In the darkness, Burnley leaned forward and whispered into his ear. “All those nights, when you were down in the prison, blinded and rotting away, I knew that you were listening to me as I pulled each one of those poor bastards out of their rooms and fucked them hard right up against your door. When they screamed, I would wonder if your scream would be the same as you begged for mercy. Back then, my hands were tied, I was prevented from doing anything to you... They wanted to keep you safe, a prized possession, but now.. I finally get the chance to break Benjamin.” Burnley's hand snaked down and ran over the side of Ben's thigh, his fingers curled and traced the line of his rump, sliding between his buttocks feeling the firmness of his tight muscles hidden beneath his clothing. “And I know exactly how I am going to start.”

“Get off me!” Benjamin shouted and tried to push Burnley away, but he was pinned down flat with his unnatural strength, making it almost impossible to move.

Burnley leaned forward and licked at the back of Benjamin's ear, running his tongue down the shell of flesh and then caught his earlobe between his teeth and drew it into his mouth, sucking on it for a moment, before biting down playfully and laughing. “It's alright, I am not your son, remember? You are denying me, tossing me away for the second time, so that means I can do whatever I please to you. Earlier this morning, I fucked one of your favorite boys until he was bleeding and raw. I used him up for all he was worth and then left him tied up in a bloodstained sheet, waiting for you to find him. He kept screaming your name over and over. It was so delightful working on him. I dare say that I enjoyed myself, which isn't something I have had the pleasure of doing for a very long time, and it left me with an appetite for more, and who better to share this experience with than you, Benjamin? Although I should warn you that if I am going to fully enjoy myself with you, there must be blood shed… lots of it. Can you imagine how refreshing it would be to drink the warm crimson blood as it flows directly out of you? I’d gladly lick every drop off this magnificent body you have here.” Finally able to get some leverage, Benjamin slipped his hands between his body and the wall, pushing as hard as he could to force Burnley off of him. The struggle only made Burnley push back harder. “Oh please fight, I want to feel the hatred building inside of you; it will only make you clench down tighter when I shove my dick in. I am going to rip you apart from the inside, and take what is mine. This is my birthright.” He laughed manically and then dropped his voice down, leaning in again to whisper in Ben's ear. “I normally don’t get off on his type of thing, but I have to admit, the thought of this is so exciting. I am hard already dear father. Can you feel it? It’s going to be blissfully wonderful when I come inside of you, and believe me, I will fill you up until you burst, and tears are streaming down your cheeks. No one has ever been gifted such a pleasure. And of course it’s somewhat poetic; a fitting end for your prideful reign. Your sweet little lamb is ready to shed your blood and lay you down to slaughter.” Burnley reached around and pulled at the button of Benjamin’s pants, flicking it open and dipping his fingers down into the warm depths. “If this is your first time as bottom, it's ok... we can do it right here in the hallway, surrounded by the dead. They can’t hear your screams, or see the tears in your eyes; no one will know in the darkness. It’s just you and I.. dear.. father… You might even enjoy it yourself, if you let yourself go, surrender yourself to the enemy, submit to the one you made. ” His fingertips moved down lower, reaching, stretching, grasping and his breath hot on the back of Benjamin’s neck. “I … won’t…. tell…Let me taste you.”

“Fuck you!” Ben shouted and whirled around in one fluid motion, grabbing hold of Burnley's side just above the hip and finding the gaping wound that Dustin had sliced into earlier, and plunged his fingers into the opening. Grabbing the edge of the injured flesh, he pulled at it, feeling muscle and flesh give way beneath his fingers. Burnley screamed out in pain and staggered backwards in the darkness, releasing Ben from against the wall as a fresh stream of blood flowed down his leg. Ben spun around and reached forward grabbing for the young man and felt his fist collide with his stomach. Burnley let out a startled cry, surprised by the unexpected blow and hunched over in pain. The lights flickered on for a moment, giving Ben the opportunity he needed to see where he was, but they quickly shut off again. Burnley started laughing. That brief second was all he needed to bring his foot up and place a square kick right to Burnley’s body, landing directly between his legs, and bringing him right down to the floor. Moving quickly, Ben was on top of him as he lay on the floor, grabbing his hair, he balled his hand up into a tight fist and proceeded to punch him repeatedly, hearing the sickening wet thud as his knuckles met with bone and blood. His fist sore and ripped open, after several seconds into the beating, Benjamin stopped and stood up, Burnley ceased laughing and lay silent on the floor. Flexing his hand, Ben leaned back against the wall and took a breath, waiting for the lights to come back on. 

His heart was breaking. He didn’t know whether or not Burnley was speaking the truth about him being his son, but he needed to find out. If there was a possibility that he was his own flesh and blood, then he would have to try and find a way to save him, he couldn’t let him succumb to this madness that seemed to be running rampant inside of him. Benjamin thought about his life, such as it was here on Prox. The only person that he had loved, the one that he had chosen to share his life with now had turned away from him. He knew that he could not return to the Messengers to be their leader, it would be completely out of the question. Thomas had clearly made his choice. Never before in his life had Benjamin ever been rejected by a person, these feelings were alien and strange to him, and the feeling of loss was so great, he knew that it would be a long time before he would ever recover from the heartbreak. But… if he had his son… if Burnley was truly his, and he could be healed, shown goodness and what it meant to be a family, then there might be hope for him. He wouldn't be alone on Prox anymore. This was the only thing that Benjamin had to hang onto now. This would be the thing that kept him going. Still leaning against the wall, Benjamin started to feel a little lightheaded and the all too familiar ache started to creep into his bones, followed by a sick feeling churning in his stomach. “No…” he whispered. “Not now, please, not now.” He pleaded into the darkness. “Let me get through this, let me get them all out of here and back home, that’s all I ask. Let me save him…” The lights overhead suddenly came on, revealing the gruesome carnage of the corridor once again, filled with the Carnivore corpses. Strangely enough, Burnley’s body was not among them. “Fuck.” Ben whispered.

A voice echoed all around him, but he couldn’t pinpoint a location where it was coming from. “Well played Father, you are stronger that I had originally thought… but nothing I can’t handle, especially with that disease, that rot running through your body once again. Does it pain you to know that you are going to suffer slowly all over again?” Burnley’s disembodied voice dropped down to a frightening whisper in Ben’s ears. “It’s alright; I’ll take all the pain away.” The lights turned off again and then there was the scraping sound of that sword on concrete once again. Benjamin took the opportunity and started sprinting off down the corridor; he knew that he could stop Burnley, but not in the total darkness where he seemed to have the upper hand. Running back down the way that he came, Benjamin tried almost every single door on his way back through, but everything was locked. Behind him, he could hear Burnley yelling for him, and the sound of his sword being dragged on the ground became louder and louder. He was singing in a sing-song mocking tone as he calmly walked down the hall.

“Rain… Rain… go away… come again, another day…  
All the world is waiting for the…SON”

Ben cursed himself for leaving his only weapon on the floor, but he needed to make a hasty retreat while he still had time. Reaching the end of the corridor, Ben saw a dark shape appear out of nowhere. At first glance, he thought it a random Carnivore, left roaming the halls, miraculously escaping Burnley's wrath. As he approached it, it took off its hood and scarf, revealing the features of a woman underneath. She was motioning for him to follow her. With Burnley hot on his heels behind him, Ben decided it would be best to trust her, and followed her and she inputted a key code into a locked room and pushed him inside. As the door slid shut, Ben started immediately rummaging through things, looking for a weapon. The woman sat her backpack down on a desk and was watching him calmly. Ben glanced over at her, pulling some of the drawers out and emptying their contents in a desperate search as he spoke. “Do you have any weapons? We need to stop him, he's a lunatic.”

“I have this.” The woman pulled her laser rifle out of the pocket of her long coat. Benjamin reached for it and she pulled it back. “Wait.. You are Benjamin, aren't you?” she asked, keeping the weapon just out of his reach.

“Yes. Do I know you?” He asked, his eyes shifting to the door anxiously.

Following his gaze, she smiled. “I'm Selene. I know your friends. They have been looking for you.” She noticed his anxiousness. “Don't worry about Burnley; we are safe for the moment, you injured him and it slowed him down, but not for long. He thrives on that pain and will come looking for you as soon as he can. Pain is like a drug to him and once you give him a taste of it, he will do anything he can for more.” Placing the gun down on the desk, she started rummaging through her bag. “I need to send a message to the others and let them know that I found you so that we can rendezvous and get the hell out of here.”

Benjamin calmed down a bit and came to join her back on the other side of the desk. “Who is he?” he asked.

Selene looked up at Ben and blinked disbelief in her eyes. “Benjamin that IS your son.”

“I have to have proof before I can believe that.” He said wistfully. Benjamin knew that he could save the boy, but he would only do so if it was in fact, his son.

“You have no choice, it’s the truth.” Selene looked down at her bag, open on the desk and avoided Ben's gaze; she had to look away or else he’d easily see the guilt in her eyes. “There IS proof that he was taken by the F.E.C. and brought here to be trained to destroy the Messengers. Trust me. They wanted to create a super soldier who was capable of bringing rebellion to its knees. What better way to do that then to kidnap the son of the man who you were trying to oppose? If you look at it from a tactical stand point, it makes perfect sense. He's your one weakness, so they used it to their advantage.” She pulled an item from her bag and reached out to gently touch his arm. “Benjamin, I know what you're thinking... I am a parent too, and we only want what is best for our children, but Burnley... he's... Not right. They did things to him, horrible things and he grew up never knowing what a family is. He murdered everyone that ever opposed him, until he took over as Commander of this base. The things that he does... to his own men... It’s gruesome. It creeps me out just thinking about it. Take my advice, and walk away. Get your friends and get the fuck out of here before there isn't an option anymore. There’s no way of saving him, not now.”

Ben's stomach twisted in knots. He looked at Selene and took hold of her arm, momentarily stopping her from what she was doing. “I don’t know you Selene, but I do know that Burnley is very disturbed, I want to save him, but you have to be completely honest with me, I want you to swear to me that your words are the truth. Is Burnley my son? Is he the child that was kidnapped from the church?”

Selene let out an audible sigh. He wasn’t fully listening to her, disregarding her warnings about Burnley’s insanity and only focusing on the fact that he was his son. It wasn’t going to be easy to convince him to walk away. “Yes. There is absolutely no doubt about it. He was kidnapped from the steps of the church by a motorcyclist on the day of your funeral.” Her voice lowered and she dropped her head down, letting the curls of her hair obscure her face, she couldn’t bear to face him, knowing that she was the one responsible for taking the child away. “It was raining, and the boy ran away to go puddle jumping but got lost in the crowd... there were so many people there. Rhiannon, Ron, Adam and Crystal, they all went out to try and look for him, but he was nowhere to be found. The storm was so bad, they say that it was one for the record books with flash flooding and damaging winds. Someone even commented that it would be fitting on the day that Benjamin Burnley would be laid to rest, because he always loved the rain. They were both lost that day, the father and the son, only you were able to come back, but he didn’t. Little Benjamin was gone forever, replaced by Burnley.”

Leaning against the desk, Ben lowered his head for a moment. He looked down at his hands, stained red and covered in blood, his own son's blood and was immediately washed over with grief. Burnley was right, Ben's actions as a father had been selfish and greedy in the past. He chose the easy way out from his daily pain, rather than facing it head on and living with it for the sake of his son. The F.E.C. may have taken the boy physically away, but spiritually, the little innocent child died the same day his father did.

Selene looked over to Ben, who had fallen silent and rested her hand over his. “Benjamin, it's going to be alright. Everything is going to be okay. I know a way out of this, how we can fix everything.” she said with a soothing tone.

“How's that?” he asked, looking at her curiously.

Without another word, Selene jammed a small electronic device into Ben's side and clicked the button. A thick electrical discharge shot out of it and sent a pulse through his body, immediately rendering him unconscious. Benjamin had no time to react, his eyes rolled back in his head and he dropped to the floor with a loud thump. Going to work quickly, Selene grabbed his arms and turned him over so that he was lying flat on the floor. She knew that the device would only give her a few moments of sedation before it wore off. Returning to her bag, she pulled out the last visor from the depths where it was hidden and turned it on, waiting impatiently for it to power up. Clicking a few buttons, she changed a few settings on it and then it started to glow. Taking a breath, she sat down next to him on the floor, her long dark coat spilling out around her like a shadow, and held the visor out over Ben's face. “I am so sorry Benjamin, but this is the only way I know how to make things right. When you wake up, I want you to forgive me. I only did this to protect Thomas and Lizzie. They don’t know it yet, but there is so much riding on their love for one another. The entire fate of Prox rests within their hands; they have to make it out of here.” Sliding the visor over his eyes, the program started to run and Benjamin moaned lightly in his sleep. Selene ran her fingers down his cheek and over his jawline. “Shh, it won't take long, I promise. These are my own lines of coding, it’s gentle and will be over with quickly, don't fight it.”

Lost in her own thoughts for a moment, Selene didn't hear the door open at first and the sudden movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. Springing to her feet, she grabbed the laser rifle that she had placed on the table and aimed it at Burnley, who was standing at the door, clutching the wound at his side. His face was bruised and bloody, bearing a sinister grin. “Selene Bell. I did not expect to see you here. I guess it's about time that I finally got rid of you. You've been nothing but a pest to me, sabotaging my servers and screwing around with the visors.” He snarled at her, his eyes flashing brightly with amber color.

“They were MY Ocular devices Burnley, and you bastards stole everything from me! I only wanted to take back what was mine!” Selene shouted, trying her best to keep her hand on the weapon steady. She knew that she should have fired the moment he walked into the room, but she thought about Benjamin, and how saddened he was with the knowledge that Burnley was his child. She had taken his son away from him once, he didn't know if she could do it again. Either way, a sickening feeling was overcoming her that he would not let her leave the room alive.

Laughing, Burnley smiled a twisted smile at her. “Your burden is lifted Selene. I've destroyed the entire visor lab, including the terminals used to code the visors, and have instructed the other F.E.C. bases to do the same. As of midnight last night, there are no more ocular devices.” He looked down to Benjamin who was still unconscious on the floor. “Well except for that one. Selene, what did you program that one for hmm? What little ideas are you putting in dear old dad's head right now? It seems that in the end, you are no better than the F.E.C. yourself, manipulating your friends to get what you want. Tsk tsk tsk. What have we become? We wouldn't want your son to see this now, would we? I can summon him here if you like, and he can witness your sad little act of betrayal.”

Selene's eyes widened. “Thomas! You wouldn't! Leave him out of this Burnley, let him and his friends go; you've got Benjamin he's the prize you wanted all along. Take him and be done with it. They can't do anything to stop you anyway. You wanted revenge and retribution for so long, it’s right in your grasp. Look at him lying there, it’s the Commander of the Messengers, helpless and weak, he’s completely at your mercy.” She pleaded. “Take Benjamin and spare the others. He’s worth so much more to you than they are.”

“I can't do that, because now I know that they mean something to Benjamin. So after I dispatch you, I am going to go hunt them down one at a time and bring them here to torture in front of him. I want him to know what it feels like to have your entire life fall apart around you, one at a time. And yes.. That includes your son, Thomas.” Burnley hesitated for a moment, he could see that he had hit a nerve with Selene when he mentioned Thomas and a snide smile came across his face, as he decided that her emotions were fair game. “Interesting fact... Did you know that Thomas and Benjamin were partners, and we're not talking military comrades either? Your precious little boy was taking it up the ass from Benjamin here on a regular basis. That's right... Benjamin was using him for his own sexual satisfaction, while being in love with Dustin Bates the entire time. He was thinking of Dustin every moment that he and Thomas were together, sometimes in the heat of the moment, inside of his head, he could picture Dustin there, instead of Thomas , isn’t that a sick thing to do? He even sent your precious son out on a near suicide mission to bring Dustin back from one of the experimental labs, because he didn’t want to put himself at risk, and Thomas, being the ever faithful love sick puppy did exactly was he was told. The moment Bates recovered from his illness, Ben just tossed him away, like he was garbage and then he completely lost his mind. All the boy wanted was a place to belong and someone to belong to, and for a short time he had that…until Dustin appeared.” Burnley moved forward as he spoke; Selene was not paying attention to how near to her he was, there were now tears streaming down her cheeks. “The worst part...” Burnley was practically right on top of her now, only a few inches away. “It gets worse, Thomas Bell was the one who ordered the extermination of the Messengers. He gave the command himself to his own legion of Carnivores who seized control of the base and murdered the rebels inside... and the few they didn't downright murder.. Do you know what they did with those poor souls? The families, especially the ones with children were locked up in cells underneath the base. At night, he would go down there and pull one of the young ones out, mostly the little girls with the big eyes and pretty ponytails and bring them back up into his private quarters. He’d sit them on the bed and tell them stories about white rabbits and grinning cats. Then, when he convinced them that it was safe, he would start playing ‘games’ with them, which would begin with him taking their clothes off…”

“Don't say anymore! You are a fucking liar!” she shouted. Overcome with emotion, Selene lowered the gun and allowed Burnley to reach up and pluck it from her hands. He reached out and brushed some of the curls that had fallen in front of her face and then wiped her tears away. “God damn you Burnley. Damn you and the F.E.C.”

“The truth hurts doesn’t it, knowing that the son you so desperately wanted to be a hero turned out to be so depraved.” Burnley's eyes met hers again, and he wrapped one of her curls around his finger, twirling the silky strand down over his knuckle. “I am surprised with you Selene. You've given up. I really expected more fight from you, you’ve been so fierce in the past, now that you have found your son, you’ve been severely weakened. It really is a shame to see how far you’ve fallen. I thought perhaps you could have been a worthy adversary for me. But it would appear that I've broken you just like I did Bates, and all I had to do was reveal a few facts to find the weakness in your armor. Your son means more to you than you let on. He is your weakness. You’d be better off without him. Don’t fret love; I will graciously take care of that little problem for you.” Moving his hand down, he easily slipped it down around her throat and began to squeeze and lift at the same time, bringing her feet off the floor by a few inches. Selene's small hands tried to pry his vice like grip away from her throat, but she knew that it was hopeless; he was just too strong for her. Holding her tightly in one hand, he pulled his arm back and held her out like a rag doll, her legs swinging wildly underneath her. “This is the second time today I’ve had the pleasure of crushing the life right out of someone. I really wish I had a use for you, it would be interesting to keep you around and see what I can dig up inside of your head, but I’ve already got what I wanted and your visors are useless to us now since the Eden project is initiated.”

Gasping for breath, Selene smiled at Burnley. “It.. doesn’t… matter what you do to me. I’ve… already accomplished… my final… sabotage…. And… you will pay… for everything….you’ve…done, and all…the…lies… you’ve….spread.”

Raising an eyebrow he looked at her curiously. Selene did not say a word, but looked down to the floor where Ben remained motionless, the visor still attached to his eyes and completing the final phase. She had stalled him enough for the process to nearly complete.“What have you done, you bitch!” A murderous look in his eyes, he turned his attention back to Selene and then threw her up against the wall, where she collided with a loud thump and fell to the ground in a miserable heap of black fabric.

Bending down over top of Benjamin, Burnley observed the visor for a few moments before it suddenly shut off and then disengaged itself from Ben's face, dropped to the floor and cracked into pieces. He looked back to where Selene had landed and she was smiling at him, a thin trickle of blood running down her bottom lip. “That's right you bastard, I can play the same game that the F.E.C. is playing. You wanted a worthy opponent in your father, so I gave you exactly what you wanted. When he wakes up in a few moments, he’s going to be everything you wanted him to be and so much more. The trick for successful coding with these devices is that in order to make it work really well, you have to dive into the patients psyche and work with emotions that already pre-exist. Benjamin would have never hurt you Burnley, because you are his son, his own flesh and blood. He would have gone to the grave swearing that there is good in you, but your little assault on him out there in the corridor changed everything. It put a very tiny seed of hatred in there, which was all I needed to make it work. It's all your doing.” Selene smiled with a mouthful of bloody teeth. “That’s right; I watched the whole thing happen. I saw how you sexually assaulted your fucking father, you sick fuck! You are his son!” she shouted at him. “Having no other choice, I picked out those emotions and amplified them inside his head, so now that’s all he’s going to feel now towards you. Hate. Pure and simple hatred. And then I programmed the visor to self-destruct after its last use, so no there aren't any more of those bloody things out there for the F.E.C. to abuse. You lost your chance!”

Burnley walked over to Selene and picked her up by the front of her coat, dragging her to her feet. “I am proud of you. It’s about time you revealed your true colors, Selene. You can’t deny it now. Admit it to yourself, you are one of us, you always have been and you always will be. Manipulating people with your own creation, what a genius thing to do! Bravo.”

Spitting a mouthful of saliva and blood out at him, she glared at him. “Fuck you asshole.”

Burnley smiled at her, and then pulled his arm back punched her in directly the face. There was a sickening crack as his fist met with bone and cartilage, coming away bloody as he threw her limp body down onto the floor.

The door behind me opened up and I heard someone step out. I didn’t even bother looking to see who it was. I didn’t really care. With everything that had just happened, all I wanted was to be left alone, but I knew that would never be possible, at least not until we made it back home to the Shallow Bay. My body was sore, my spirit crushed and all I could think about was stripping down and stepping into a nice hot, refreshing shower to wash everything away. “Is Thomas okay?” I asked, keeping my eyes fixated on the wall in front of me.

“Yeah it’s nothing serious, just some bruises. Mostly ego damage but he will get over it. He’s not mad about it, same with Lizzie, they know that you’ve been put through hell and things just surfaced in a bad way.” I heard the soft rustle of clothing and then glanced over to see Brock sitting next to me on the floor. He brought his knees up to his chest and rested his elbows on them. “I could really go for some ice cream.” He said. “Nothing fancy, just maybe some green mint chocolate chip, with a nice crunchy cone. That would totally hit the spot right about now. It would solve all our problems.” He sighed.

I smiled at him. Even though the planet was on the verge of destruction, Benjamin was missing, and there was an insane lunatic running around the halls of the base; no matter how bad things got, I could always count on Brock to make me laugh. “If we make it out of this Brock, I will find a way to get you that ice cream, I promise.”

“Even if we have to build a time-traveling device?” he joked.

I looked at him with a serious face, my mind flashing with images of melted ice cream, comic books and blood. “I wouldn’t go that far.” I said flatly.

Sensing the seriousness in my voice, Brock fell quiet. I knew that he wanted to talk to me about something in particular, but was afraid of being the one to initiate the conversation. After several excruciating moments, he was finally able to find his voice. “Dustin, what Selene said… about Burnley, is it true…about what he did to you?” he asked. I turned to look at him and could see that all the color had drained out of his face.

Leaning my head back against the wall, I avoided his gaze. I really didn’t feel up to getting into this topic of conversation, mostly since I had just beaten the hell out of Thomas myself, I was feeling just as sick and twisted as Burnley. “Yes. All of it is true, back there with Thomas…I didn’t mean to get so out of control and fucked up. I just lost it.”

Brock stood up for a moment and moved in front of me, sitting back down and draping his legs over mine, we were face to face now, and he took my hands into his and held onto them tightly, running his fingers over my cracked knuckles. Selene had been kind enough to wash all the dried blood off my hands, but I could still feel it there on my skin, both Burnley’s blood and my own, seeping into the pores, penetrating the veins. I wanted him to let go of me, even pulling back slightly; I was disgusting, but he didn’t let go. He sat forward slightly and rested his forehead against mine; even though he had not yet said anything to me after asking the question, I felt like I was ready to start crying. Not a single word passed over his lips judging, comforting or criticizing me; it was all in his eyes. I swallowed hard, trying to choke back the tears. “Brock. I am so ashamed.”

He moved his hands up to my cheeks, holding my face up. “I know it’s hard for you to deal with this right now, but you have to have a little faith in yourself, Dustin. You’re stronger than this. Don’t let him defeat you.”

“You don’t know what he put me through!” I blurted out. “You have no idea how that felt to be completely helpless...being unable to prevent someone from using your body like that. To keep violating you over and over for their personal satisfaction, it’s utterly demeaning and degrading. I hear him inside my head, laughing at me, I can smell him on my skin, I can feel the blood on my hands. I don’t know how I can live with myself after this.” I looked up and stopped in mid thought, my eyes meeting his. There was a look of utter sadness on his face. Oh my god, how could I have been so insensitive? My hands started to shake. So much time had passed since that night when I had forced myself upon him, I had almost forgotten about it. I was able to accept responsibility for my actions and move on, but I never knew if he fully forgave me for what I had done. My heart hurt for him. “Oh god, Brock… I am sorry. I didn’t mean it to be like that…”

“Don’t apologize. I didn’t come out here to upset you. I only wanted to know if there was truth to Selene’s words, and tell you that Thomas was okay.” Brock began to wipe my tears away, his touch was tender and soft; I wanted him to wrap his arms around me and sink into them, but for the moment, he kept his distance. “There have been so many lies and deceptions lately; I needed to know the truth for once… I need to trust someone again.”

“What happened back there, in the cell, between us, before they came and took me away… I didn’t mean for it to escalate that quickly. I thought I saw—“

“I know what you -thought you saw, Dustin, and I understand. It’s taken me a while to see the big picture now, but I do. You need Benjamin in your life as much as you need me, and until you can figure it all out, you are going to feel like an incomplete person, that’s just the way it is.”

I kept my voice down. “How do I choose?” It was a simple question, one which had been in my head for months now, but I could never bring myself to say it out loud, especially to Brock, but there was something soothing in the tone in his voice at that moment and reassured me and comforted me, and I knew that he would answer.

Shaking his head, Brock gave me a very small smile. It wasn’t one of his silly selfie smiles or one where he was being half serious. This was a smile of reassurance, of comfort. “I can’t help you out with the answer to that question, Dustin; because I’ve only ever been in love with one person in my entire life, and there never has been a choice. I have always known who he is.” With those words, Brock brought his lips down to mine and my first reaction was to pull away. I could still taste Burnley’s lips there on mine, feel the sickening warmth of blood smearing across them. Strangely enough, the moment Brock’s lips touched mine, I momentarily forgot about all the pain my body was wracked with. His touch was different, subtle, and more unique than either Benjamin’s or Burnley’s. Instead of tasting like lust and passion, it was sweeter, delicate… like a favorite childhood candy you would savor in your mouth for minutes, holding onto it for as long as you could before it melted away. Reaching up, Brock ran his hands up behind the back of my head, letting his fingertips caress the clumps of my crudely shaved head. Keeping his lips pressed against mine, he moved his body in closer, not quite touching mine, but close enough so that I could feel the heat from his skin. Whispering to me, he looked up, with his eyes focused on mine. “Think about how it will feel being with Benjamin now, think about the guilt and sorrow from what his son has done to you and be aware that things may never be the same between the two of you again. All his memories of you have vanished, they are gone like the fog that burns away with the first rays of sunlight in the morning. He won’t ever recall your first kiss, or spending the night with you, or waking up in your arms. Every single word you’ve spoken to him in love or anger is all gone now. He won’t remember making love to you under the stars, or the melody that filled his heart when he whispered the lyrics in your ear.” Brock lightly rested his hands on my chest, positioning them over my heart. It was a tender touch, full of love and adoration. At that moment, he looked into my eyes and was the most serious I had ever seen him in my entire life. “I want you to know that I remember. I remember everything, the memories that we have shared together they are all mine to treasure, nothing will ever make me forget these precious times.” He reached down and took hold of my hand. “No matter what happens, I will not ever forget you. You are my life; the one that my heart chose. I thought that I could just leave and walk away, letting you to be happy with him and be alone, but I can’t face what is ahead of us without knowing exactly how you feel about me. With Benjamin’s memories gone, things have changed, and this is a chance that will never come again, a chance for you to be happy, and live your life without regrets. I see you right here in front of me, but I can’t feel you, and I need to know for certain. I am going to put this question to you, straight forward and direct, because I need an answer.” Lacing his fingers together tightly with mine, he waited a moment and then spoke in a hushed tone. “Will you let go of him, and let me love you? Separate yourself from all the pain and regret and allow yourself to be loved like you should be? Dustin, who do you want to spend the rest of your life with? Benjamin or me?” I felt his hands clench mine tightly, his fingers tremble and the look of absolute fear in his eyes. “One word, one name, that’s all I am asking for, please…I need this. Affirmation, one way or the other.”

I was almost about to answer when the door behind me slid open and Thomas ran out, not seeing Brock and I on the floor, he nearly fell over us. He glanced down, and gave Brock a concerned, confused look, and then held out the small wrist comm device for him, not even bothering to look at me. His face was bruised and slightly gashed from where it had impacted the floor, but I was grateful that there was no serious damage done. I couldn’t handle any more guilt. I was glad in a way; I really didn’t feel like dealing with him right now. Maybe he finally learned a lesson. “Here take this, you left it inside, I don’t know why you’d just toss a crucial piece of equipment aside at a time like this, but anyway… It started receiving notifications a few minutes ago; I was preoccupied and didn’t notice until now. Selene’s been trying to contact you.”

Brock rose to his feet slowly and took the communication the device from Thomas, pushing buttons and cycling through a few screens. I remained sitting on the floor, I had the feeling that this message, would be the final page in what had become the epic story of our lives, and I wasn’t quite ready for it. Scrolling through the last message, I looked up to Brock. “What does it say?” I asked.

He glanced down at me, then to Thomas. “How long ago was this last message sent?” Brock asked.

“About 10 minutes ago.”

Brock took off, pushing his way past Thomas and back into the Infirmary room in a sudden rush. I pulled myself to my feet and followed him back in, curious to know what the hurry was, and found him quickly packing his messenger bag again. “Brock—what’s going on? What did that message say?”

Stopping for a moment, he gave me a serious look. “She says that she’s located Benjamin and needs us to come quickly. He’s dying.”

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter is dedicated to a friend of mine, Dustie_Boobs. I am aware that it is very long and quite a emotional roller coaster ride but I wanted to give her the gift of answers, when I went away for a short trip. So I apologize for the length, but not to content. I know that a lot of it is very disturbing but I feel that it was needed, as I always do, to show exactly how brutal and sadistic Burnley is.


End file.
